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How to Find the Five Brightest Stars Visible From New England

Of the five brightest stars in the night sky that can be seen from New England, two can be viewed easily during the spring and summer and three during the colder months. These five are not the five brightest stars in the entire heavens, only the five most brilliant that can be observed from the New England states. The stars Canopus and Alpha Centauri stand second and fourth on the roster of bright stars, but those two cannot be seen from New England.

Instructions

- 1
  Search for Sirius. Only our own sun is brighter than this star, which is one of the nearest stars to Earth. It is located in the constellation of Canis Major, a winter constellation in New England. You can easily recognize it by its luminosity, but if you need more help, then find the constellation of Orion in the southeastern sky. This star collection is composed of several bright stars and is rectangular in shape. The "belt" of Orion consists of three stars in a row slanting downward midway in the rectangle. You can follow the belt down and draw an imaginary line right to Sirius, which is 8 light-years distant.
- 2
  Arc to Arcturus. The third brightest star in the whole of the night skies, Arcturus is in the constellation of Bootes. It is best viewed in midspring. Find the Big Dipper in Ursa Major. The Big Dipper is a collection of seven stars that form a ladle shape. It is never far from north, as it seems to circle the North Star from our vantage point on Earth. Follow the handle of the Big Dipper on a curve, or arc, out into space until you come to your first bright star. That will be Arcturus, less than 40 light-years away.
- 3
  Look straight up in the summer to spot Vega. The third most dazzling star visible from New England, Vega is almost directly overhead in the summer months. It is in the constellation Lyra the Lyre, or harp. Vega forms the "Summer Triangle" with Deneb in Cygnus and Altair in Aquila. It is a "mere" 25 light-years from us.
- 4
  Find the vivid Capella. This intense star is in Auriga the Chariot Driver. It is some 42 light-years away and is also a winter beacon. Go back to Sirius and draw a line from it through the left shoulder of Orion, which is formed by the bright star Betelgeuse. Continue the line out into space. As you do, you will notice a V-shaped star group. This is Taurus the Bull. Keep going until you see a very bright star to the left of the line. This is Capella, which means "little she-goat."
- 5
  Hunt for Rigel in the hunter. Orion is the hunter of the skies, and within it is the last of these five brightest stars visible from New England. Rigel is far and away the most remote of these five, a whopping 770 light-years away. It is found in the foot of Orion and is Arabic for the word "foot." Rigel is in the opposite corner of Orion's rectangle from Betelgeuse.

Astronomy