One of the pleasures of stargazing is noticing and enjoying the various colors that stars display in dark skies.
Star colors are always interesting to observe, since they add so much to the character of the constellations. These hues offer direct visual evidence of how stellar temperatures vary. A good many of the luminaries of the summer season — such as brilliant Vega, which stands about halfway up in the east-northeast sky as darkness falls — are bluish white. Still, we can easily find other, contrasting colors there as well. Look at the reddish Antares and the yellowish-white Altair. And at the top of the line of this summer's retinue, brilliant orange Arcturus holds forth in solitary splendor high toward the south.
