Arcturus (α Boo / α Boötis / Alpha Boötis) is the brightest star in the constellation Boötes, and the third brightest star in the night sky, with a visual magnitude of −0.05, after Sirius and Canopus, although it is fainter than the combined light of the two main components of Alpha Centauri, which are too close together for the eye to resolve as separate sources of light, making Arcturus appear to be the fourth brightest. It is the second brightest star visible from northern latitudes and the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere. An orange subgiant K star, Arcturus has a velocity somewhat higher than that of other bright stars, and comes from an older population of the Galaxy. Consistent with this, it is rather metal-poor with only about one-fifth as much iron relative to hydrogen as is found in the Sun. It is probably at the stage of fusing helium to carbon in its core. The star is in the Local Interstellar Cloud. An easy way to find Arcturus is to follow the arc of the handle of the Plough. By continuing in this path, one can find Spica (α Virginis) as well — hence the maxim, "Arc to Arcturus, then speed on to Spica." (For further details see Arcturus.)