How to find the Northern Crown

When to look

May, June, July, August evenings

Face east, then high

A small half-circle of seven stars, like a crown or a bowl, with one brighter star, Alphecca. It sits about a third of the way from Arcturus to Vega. Late spring and summer evenings, May to August: east after dark, then high overhead. The drawing below is made from the real positions of its 7 stars, as the sky looks when you face it, with bigger dots for brighter stars. No telescope needed.

The Northern Crown is a small half circle of stars, like a crown. Find it between two bright stars, Arcturus and Vega.

The Northern Crown is the astronomers' Corona Borealis. Its seven stars make a neat curve, and its brightest star, Alphecca, is the jewel at the front. It sits about a third of the way from Arcturus to Vega, high up on summer evenings.

The crown's stars are not a family: they lie at different distances and only line up from where we stand. Inside the crown is a star astronomers watch closely, because it has suddenly flared up bright enough to see with bare eyes before, in 1866 and in 1946.

The stars in it

Theta, Nusakan, Alphecca, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Iota. The brightest is Alphecca.

How to find it

Go out after dark with a grown-up, and give your eyes ten minutes away from screens.
Face east, then high and look for: a small half-circle of seven stars, like a crown or a bowl, with one brighter star, Alphecca. It sits about a third of the way from Arcturus to Vega.
Hold up this page's drawing or the printed card and match the shape to the sky. If the sky is clear.

More star patterns

“Star patterns turn through the night, so the shape may be tipped on its side. Turn your head, not the sky.”