Spica is a scorching-hot pair of stars, whirling very closely around one another. One of them may go supernova someday. It's the brightest star in Virgo.
The Dog Star, Sirius, is easy to spot because it's the sky's brightest star. Procyon - the other Dog Star - is near its brighter brother on the sky's dome.
Achernar is the 9th brightest star and flattest star known. It marks the end of Eridanus the River. Here's why much of Earth never sees it ... and how you can.
Larry Sessions has written many favorite posts in EarthSky's Tonight area. He's a former planetarium director in Little Rock, Fort Worth and Denver and an adjunct faculty member at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He's a longtime member of NASA's Solar System Ambassadors program. His articles have appeared in numerous publications including Space.com, Sky & Telescope, Astronomy and Rolling Stone. His small book on world star lore, Constellations, was published by Running Press.