How to see the famous Northern Crown (Corona Borealis)

Got a dark sky? Look for the Northern Crown

If your sky is dark enough, Corona Borealis – aka the Northern Crown – is exciting to find. It’s easy to pick out, because it’s an almost-perfect semicircle of stars.

So your eye might just pick it out in the east on a Northern Hemisphere spring evening. But, if not, look for two bright guide stars: Arcturus in the constellation Boötes the Herdsman and Vega in the constellation Lyra the Harp. Corona Borealis is located more or less along a line between these two. It’s a bit closer to Arcturus.

So the Northern Crown is noticeable. But you’ll need a dark sky to see it clearly.

And here’s a plus! This constellation is home to a famous nova, a star that’s due to brighten noticeably. The star is called T Coronae Borealis (T CrB, pronounced “T Cor Bor”). Nowadays, people often call it the Blaze Star. And we are waiting now for the Blaze Star to erupt!

Want to learn more about the Blaze Star, aka T Coronae Borealis or T CrB? It’s worth a whole article. Click here!

Alphecca, the pearl of the Northern Crown

The brightest star in Corona Borealis is Alphecca, also known as Gemma, sometimes called the Pearl (or Jewel or Gem) of the Crown.

Alphecca is a blue-white star, with an intrinsic luminosity some 60 times that of our sun. It’s located about 75 light-years from Earth.

The name Alphecca originated with a description of Corona Borealis as the “broken one.” This was in reference to the fact that these stars appear in a semicircle, rather than a full circle.

Mythology of Corona Borealis

In Greek mythology, the crown belonged to Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete. She fell in love with an Atheanian hero, Theseus. And it was she who helped him escape the Labyrinth after killing the dreaded Minotaur, a beast with the body of a man and the head of a bull. She accomplished this feat by giving him a thread, so he could find his way back out of the maze, in one of the most famous problem-solving tricks in mythology.

Theseus promised to take her with him. But then he abandoned her on the island of Naxos.

And that’s where the story turns. Dionysus – Greek god of wine and ecstasy – finds Ariadne. He falls in love with her and gives her a beautiful crown. The crown is sometimes said to have been made by Hephaestus, god of fire.

When Ariadne died (or, in some versions, was made immortal), Dionysus tossed the crown into the heavens, where we see it today as Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown.

Bottom line: Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, is an almost-perfect semicircle of stars. In the northern summer of 2026, it might be home to a nova, or new star.