Arcturus
The red giant star Arcturus is a Hellium fusing star, located 36.7 lightyears from the Solar system.[1][2]
It is the 4th largest star in the night-sky, and the brightest star in the constellation Boötes.[3]
Arcturus is only slightly more massive than Sol, our sun.[1] It is believed to be about 7 to 8 billion years old. It has a large proper motion -- that is, it is moving quickly, relative to other nearby stars. Astronomers have found at least 52 other stars whose motion suggests they share a history with Arcturus, the Arcturus moving group. For this reason they speculate Arcturus and these other stars, may have formed in a dwarf galaxy that was subsequently absorbed by The Milky Way, our own galaxy.
References
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Deborah Byrd (2026-05-29). "Arcturus, brightest star of the northern sky". EarthSky magazine. Archived from the original on 2026-06-20. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
Arcturus is a red giant star. It’s about 25 times the size of our sun, and some 170 times more luminous. And considering the fact that it’s only 36.7 light-years away, it should be little surprise that Arcturus is the 4th-brightest star in Earth’s sky.
- ↑
Jeanette Kazmierczak; Barb Mattson (2020-09-22). "Star Types". NASA Science. Archived from the original on 2026-06-16. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
Arcturus in the northern constellation Boötes and Gamma Crucis in the southern constellation Crux (the Southern Cross) are red giants visible to the unaided eye.
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"Arcturus is an orange giant star in the constellation called Boötes". Learn the sky. 2025-07-22. Archived from the original on 2026-06-22. Retrieved 2026-07-02 – via YouTube.
Arcturus is the 4th brightest star in the night sky and easy to find using the handle of the Big Dipper.