Message #22624

[mccoy]

Arcturus has a high proper motion, two arc seconds a year, greater than any first magnitude star other than α Centauri. It is moving rapidly (122 km/s) relative to the Solar System, and is now almost at its closest point to the Sun. Closest approach will happen in about 4,000 years, when the star will be a few hundredths of a light year closer to Earth than it is today. Arcturus is thought to be an old disk star, and appears to be moving with a group of 52 other such stars, known as the Arcturus stream.[21]
In antiquity, Arcturus was closer to the centre of the constellation