What is the brightest star in the sky at night. We study alphabetically the names of stars and constellations

Stargazing is a truly exciting experience. Even without a telescope, you can find the brightest stars located at different distances from our planet.

The brightest stars, observed from the Earth, we have collected in today's top ten. All of them are ranked by apparent magnitude, which is a measure of the brightness of a celestial body. Naturally, we do not include the Sun in this ten, considering the stars that we observe exclusively at night.

This star from the constellation Orion is located at a distance of 495 to 650 light years. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant and much larger than the Sun. If you place a star in the place of our luminary, then it would fill the orbit of Mars. Betelgeuse is visible in the Northern Hemisphere.

9. Achernar

The bright blue star in the constellation Eridani is visible from the planet's southern hemisphere. The mass of Achernar is 6-8 times that of the sun. The star is 144 light years away from Earth. Among all, this one has the least spherical shape, because. rotates very quickly around its own axis.

8. Procyon

The star in the constellation Canis Minor is 11.4 light years away from Earth. The name of the star in Greek means "before the dog." Procyon can be observed in the Northern Hemisphere.

7. Rigel

A star in the constellation Orion is located near the equator. Rigel is located at a distance of 860 light years from Earth. This is one of the most powerful stars in our Galaxy, its mass exceeds the solar one by 17 times, and its brightness is 130,000 times.

6. Chapel

The star in the constellation Auriga is almost 41 light years away from Earth. The chapel is visible from the Northern Hemisphere. The peculiarity of this yellow giant is that it is a spectroscopic double star. Each of the components of a binary star is 2.5 times the mass of the Sun.

5. Vega

The star in the constellation Lyra is clearly visible in the Northern Hemisphere. Vega is 25 light years away from Earth. This star is well studied by astronomers, because located relatively close to the solar system.

4. Arcturus

This orange giant is the brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere. Arcturus is 34 light years from Earth. From the territory of Russia, the star is visible all year round. Arcturus is 110 times brighter than the Sun.

3. Toliman (Alpha Centauri)

The closest star to the Sun is 4.3 light years away from Earth. A star has three components - a binary system? Centauri A and? Centaurus B, as well as a red dwarf invisible without a telescope. It is believed that Toliman will become the first target for interstellar flights.

2. Canopus

The star in the constellation Carina is a yellowish-white supergiant. Canopus is 310 light years away from Earth. The mass of the star exceeds the solar one by 8-9 times, the diameter is 65 times larger than the Sun.

1 Sirius

The brightest star is in the constellation Canis Major. The brightness of Sirius is due to its relative proximity to Earth (8.6 light years). Sirius is visible from almost all parts of the globe except for the northernmost regions.

To accurately answer this question, you need to know that the Sun belongs to the stars and it is without any doubt the brightest star visible from our Earth.

And then after the daylight comes Sirius, the planet of the dead, which is alpha in the constellation Canis Major. Sirius is the brightest and most mysterious star in the night sky. In ancient Egypt, Sirius was called Sothis.

You can easily see Sirius in the picture.

The answer to this question will be the name of the star SIRIUS. It is this star that is considered the brightest in the sky. E is visible from both hemispheres of the earth. Except for the extreme northern regions. In ancient times, people considered this star to be holy and worshiped it. SIRIUS.

Sirius - the brightest star in the night sky as seen from Earth (both in the northern and southern hemispheres). Sirius is a star of the first magnitude in constellation Canis Major. It is best observed in the night sky in the northern hemisphere in winter. In autumn, it appears in the sky in the morning, in spring - only in the evening, then it hides behind the horizon, and in the summer in the northern hemisphere you will not take it away. At this time, it is admired in the southern hemisphere.

The apparent magnitude of Sirius is -1.46. The distance to it is 8.6 light years, which is relatively close for cosmic parameters. That's why the star is so bright!

Of course, the brightest star in the sky is our beloved Sun. Of the stars visible from the northern hemisphere, the brightest is Sirius - the main star of the constellation Canis Major. Behind it are two bright stars: Arcturus - the alpha of the constellation Bootes and Vega - the main star of the constellation Lyra. The stars Capella, Rigel and Procyon are also very bright and beautiful, especially Rigel from the constellation Orion immediately catches the eye with its blueness.

The stars have always attracted the attention of people, who, as a result, began to give these heavenly bodies, as well as the constellations, names. One of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere of the night sky, and which, according to scientists at least 230 million years old, is Sirius.

The brightest star we can see in the night sky is Sirius. This star is in the constellation Canis Major.

In addition, Sirius is one of the closest stars to Earth.

According to various estimates, the age of Sirius is from two hundred to three hundred million years.

In the northern hemisphere, or not, I can’t say, but In 2004, astronomers discovered the largest and brightest star at the other end of the Galaxy. This star, which is 45,000 light-years away, is 150 times as massive and 200 times as large as our Sun in diameter. In terms of brightness, it exceeds our luminary by 40 million times. This blue giant is estimated to be very young, less than two million years old. Despite the huge brightness of the star, it is almost invisible from the earth: 90 percent of the light is absorbed by clouds of cosmic dust and a large distance, so that the apparent brightness corresponds to the 8th magnitude. Before the discovery of this luminary, called LBV 1806-20, it was believed that there could be no stars more than 120 times the mass of the Sun.

If you answer the question what is the brightest star in the sky , then I will answer Sirius. What is in the northern, what is in the southern hemisphere.

But if you answer even more specifically which star brightest in the northern hemisphere , then I will answer Arcturus. But this star will already be inferior in brightness to the same Sirius.

Arcturus is in the constellation Bootes. It is not difficult to find it in the sky - we visually make an arc through the three stars of the handle at the Big Dipper bucket.



The brightest star in the night sky is Sirius. This is due to the relative proximity to the solar system, only 8.6 light years. This star can be observed from almost anywhere on our planet. In ancient times, Sirius was also called the Dog Star. Sirius is the sixth brightest object in the earth's sky. Only the Sun, the Moon are brighter than it, and during the period of best visibility, the planets Venus, Mars and Jupiter are also brighter. The approximate age of Sirius is about 230 million years.

• Translation

Do you know all of them, as well as the reasons for their brightness?

I am hungry for new knowledge. The point is to learn every day, and become brighter and brighter. That is the essence of this world.
- Jay Z

But those of us who can't watch such a spectacle on a periodic basis are missing the fact that stars seen from urban areas with high light pollution look different than they do when viewed in dark conditions. Their color and relative brightness immediately separate them from their neighboring stars, and each of them has its own story.

Residents of the northern hemisphere can probably immediately recognize the Big Dipper or the letter W in Cassiopeia, while in the southern hemisphere the most famous constellation has to be the Southern Cross. But these stars are not among the ten brightest!

Milky Way near the Southern Cross

Each star has its own life cycle, to which it is tied from the moment of birth. In the formation of any star, the dominant element will be hydrogen - the most abundant element in the universe - and its fate is determined only by its mass. Stars with a mass of 8% of the mass of the sun can ignite a nuclear fusion reaction in the core, fusing helium from hydrogen, and their energy gradually moves from the inside out and pours out into the universe. Low-mass stars are red (due to low temperatures), dim, and burn their fuel slowly—the longest-lived stars are destined to burn for trillions of years.

But the more a star gains mass, the hotter its core, and the larger the region in which nuclear fusion takes place. By the time it reaches the solar mass, the star falls into class G, and its lifetime does not exceed ten billion years. Double the solar mass and you have an A star, bright blue, and less than two billion years old. And the most massive stars, classes O and B, live only a few million years, after which they run out of hydrogen fuel in the core. Not surprisingly, the most massive and hottest stars are also the brightest. A typical class A star can be 20 times brighter than the Sun, and the most massive - tens of thousands of times!

But no matter how a star begins life, the hydrogen fuel in its core ends.

And from that moment on, the star begins to burn heavier elements, expanding into a giant star, colder, but also brighter than the original one. The giant phase is shorter than the hydrogen burning phase, but its incredible brightness makes it visible from far greater distances than the original star was visible from.

Considering all this, let's move on to the ten brightest stars in our sky, in order of increasing brightness.

10. Achernar. A bright blue star, seven times the mass of the Sun and 3,000 times as bright. This is one of the fastest rotating stars known to us! It rotates so fast that its equatorial radius is 56% greater than the polar one, and the temperature at the pole - since it is much closer to the core - is 10,000 K more. But it is quite far from us, at 139 light years.

9. Betelgeuse. A red giant from the constellation of Orion, Betelgeuse was a bright and hot class O star until it ran out of hydrogen and switched to helium. Despite its low temperature of 3500 K, it is more than 100,000 times brighter than the Sun, which is why it is among the ten brightest, despite being 600 light years away. In the next million years, Betelgeuse will go supernova, and temporarily become the brightest star in the sky, possibly visible during the day.

8. Procyon. The star is very different from the ones we have considered. Procyon is a modest F-class star, only 40% larger than the Sun, and is on the verge of running out of hydrogen in its core - that is, it is a subgiant in the process of evolution. It is about 7 times brighter than the Sun, but is only 11.5 light-years away, so it can be brighter than almost all but seven of the stars in our sky.

7. Rigel. In Orion, Betelgeuse is not the brightest of the stars - this distinction is awarded to Rigel, a star even more distant from us. It's 860 light years away, and at just 12,000 degrees, Rigel isn't a main sequence star - it's a rare blue supergiant! It is 120,000 times brighter than the Sun, and shines so brightly not because of its distance from us, but because of its own brightness.

6. Chapel. This is a strange star, because, in fact, these are two red giants with a temperature comparable to the sun, but each of them is about 78 times brighter than the Sun. At 42 light-years away, it's the combination of its own brightness, its relatively small distance, and the fact that there are two of them that allows Capella to be on our list.

5. Vega. The brightest star from the Summer-Autumn Triangle, the home of aliens from the movie "Contact". Astronomers used it as a standard "zero magnitude" star. It is only 25 light-years away, belongs to the main sequence stars, and is one of the brightest class A stars known to us, as well as quite young, only 400-500 million years old. At the same time, it is 40 times brighter than the Sun, and the fifth brightest star in the sky. And of all the stars in the northern hemisphere, Vega is second only to one star...

4. Arcturus. The orange giant, on the evolutionary scale, is somewhere between Procyon and Capella. This is the brightest star in the northern hemisphere, and it is easy to find it by the "handle" of the Big Dipper bucket. It is 170 times brighter than the Sun, and following the evolutionary path, it can become even brighter! It is only 37 light-years away, and only three stars are brighter than it, all located in the southern hemisphere.

3. Alpha Centauri. This is a triple system in which the main member is very similar to the Sun, and itself is dimmer than any of the ten stars. But the Alpha Centauri system consists of the stars closest to us, so its location affects its apparent brightness - after all, it is only 4.4 light-years away. Not at all like #2 on the list.

2. Canopus. A white supergiant, Canopus is 15,000 times brighter than the Sun and is the second brightest star in the night sky despite being 310 light-years away. It is ten times more massive than the Sun and 71 times larger - it is not surprising that it shines so brightly, but it could not reach the first place. The brightest star in the sky is...

1 Sirius. It is twice as bright as Canopus, and northern hemisphere observers can often see it rising behind the constellation Orion in winter. It often twinkles because its bright light can penetrate the lower atmosphere better than the light of other stars. It is only 8.6 light-years away, but it is a Class A star, twice as massive and 25 times as luminous as the Sun.

It may surprise you that the first on the list are not the brightest or closest stars, but rather combinations of enough brightness and close enough distance to shine the brightest. Stars twice as far away have four times less brightness, so Sirius shines brighter than Canopus, which shines brighter than Alpha Centauri, and so on. Interestingly, class M dwarf stars, to which three out of every four stars in the universe belong, are not on this list at all.

What can be learned from this lesson: sometimes the things that seem most prominent and most obvious to us turn out to be the most unusual. Common things can be much more difficult to find, but this means that we should improve our methods of observation!

Note:

1. (Alpha Canis Major; αCMa, Sirius). The brightest star in the constellation Canis Major and the brightest star in the sky. It is a visual binary star with an orbital period of 50 years, whose main component (A) is an A star, and the second component (B, Puppy) is an 8th magnitude white dwarf. Sirius B was first detected optically in 1862 and its type was determined from its spectrum in 1925. Sirius is 8.7 light-years away from us and ranks seventh in proximity to the solar system. The name is inherited from the ancient Greeks and means "scorching", which emphasizes the brilliance of the star. In connection with the name of the constellation to which Sirius belongs, it is also called the "Dog Star". The third star, a brown dwarf, is closer to (A) than component (B), discovered by French astronomers in 1995.
2. (Alpha Bootes, α Boo, Arcturus). The brightest star in the constellation Bootes, the orange giant, K-star, is the fourth brightest star in the sky. Double, variable. The name is of Greek origin and means "bear's keeper". Arcturus was the first star to be seen by day with a telescope by the French astronomer and astrologer Morin in 1635.
3. (Alpha Lyrae; α Lyr, Vega). The brightest star in the constellation Lyra and the fifth brightest star in the sky. This is an A-star. In 2005, the Spitzer Space Telescope took images of Vega, as well as the surrounding dust in the infrared spectrum. A planetary system is formed around the star.
4. (Alpha Aurigae; α Aur, Chapel). The brightest star in the constellation Auriga, a spectroscopic binary whose primary component is a giant G star. Her name is of Latin origin and means "little goat".
5. (Beta Orionis; β Ori, Rigel). The brightest star in the constellation Orion. The Greek letter Beta is used for its designation, although it is slightly brighter than Betelgeuse, designated Alpha Orionis. Rigel is a supergiant, B-star with a 7th magnitude companion. The name, which is of Arabic origin, means "giant's foot".
6. (Alpha Small Dog; αCMi, Procyon). The brightest star in the constellation Canis Minor. Procyon is the fifth brightest of all stars. In 1896, J. M. Scheberl discovered that Procyon is a binary system. The main companion is a normal F star and the weak companion is an 11th magnitude white dwarf. The circulation period of the system is 41 years. The name Procyon is of Greek origin and means "before the dog" (a reminder that the star rises before the "Dog Star", i.e. Sirius).
7. (Alpha Eagle; α Aql, Altair). The brightest star in the constellation Aquila. The Arabic word "altair" means "flying eagle". Altair - A-star. This is one of the closest among the brightest stars (located at a distance of 17 light years).
8. (Alpha Orion; α Ori, Betelgeuse). A red supergiant, an M star, is one of the largest known stars. Using point interferometry and other interference methods, it was possible to measure its diameter, which turned out to be equal to about 1000 solar diameters. The presence of large bright "star spots" was also detected. Ultraviolet observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope have shown that Betelgeuse is surrounded by a vast chromosphere, approximately twenty solar masses. Variable. The brightness varies irregularly between values ​​of 0.4 and 0.9 with a period of about five years. It is noteworthy that during the observation period from 1993 to 2009, the diameter of the star decreased by 15%, from 5.5 astronomical units to approximately 4.7, and astronomers cannot yet explain what this is connected with. At the same time, the brightness of the star did not change noticeably during this time.
9. (Alpha Taurus; α Tau, Aldebaran). The brightest star in the constellation Taurus. The Arabic name means “next” (i.e. following the Pleiades). Aldebaran is a giant K star. Variable. Although in the sky the star looks like part of the Hyades cluster, in fact it is not a member of it, being twice as close to Earth. In 1997, it was reported that it had a possible satellite - a large planet (or a small brown dwarf), with a mass equal to 11 Jupiter masses at a distance of 1.35 AU. Pioneer 10 unmanned spacecraft heading towards Aldebaran. If nothing happens to it along the way, it will reach the region of the star in about 2 million years.
10. (Alpha Scorpio; a Sco, Antares). The brightest star in the constellation Scorpio. Red supergiant, M-star, variable, double The name is of Greek origin and means “competitor of Mars”, which is reminiscent of the wonderful color of this star. Antares is a semi-regular variable star whose brightness varies between magnitudes 0.9 and 1.1 over a period of five years. It has a blue companion star of 6th magnitude, only 3 arc seconds distant. Antares B was discovered during one of these occultations on April 13, 1819. The orbital period of the satellite is 878 years.
11. (Virgo Alpha; αVir, Spica). The brightest star in the constellation Virgo. This is an eclipsing binary, a variable whose brightness varies by about 0.1 magnitude with a period of 4.014 days. The main component is a blue-white B star with a mass of about eleven solar masses. The name means "corn cob".
12. (Beta Gemini; β Gem, Pollux). The brightest star in the constellation Gemini, although its designation is Beta, not Alpha. It seems unlikely that Pollux has become brighter since Bayer (1572-1625). Pollux is an orange giant, a K-star. In classical mythology, the twins Castor and Pollux were the sons of Leda. In 2006, an exoplanet was discovered around the star.
13. (Southern Pisces Alpha; α PsA,
14. (Epsilon Canis Major; ε CMa, Adara). The second brightest (after Sirius) star in the constellation Canis Major, a giant B-star. Has a 7.5 m companion star. The Arabic name for the star means "virgin". Approximately 4.7 million years ago, the distance from ε Canis Majoris to the Earth was 34 light years, and the star was the brightest in the sky, its brightness was −4.0 m
15. (Alpha Gemini; a Gem, Castor). The second brightest in the constellation of Gemini after Pollux. Its naked eye magnitude is estimated at 1.6, but this is the combined brightness of a multiple system of at least six components. There are two A-stars of magnitudes 2.0 and 2.9, forming a close visual pair, each of which is a spectroscopic binary, and a more distant red star of 9th magnitude, which is an eclipsing binary.
16. (Gamma Orionis; γ Ori, Bellatrix). Giant, B-star, variable, double. The name is of Latin origin and means "warrior woman". One of the 57 navigational stars of antiquity
17. (Beta Taurus; β Tau, Nat). The second brightest in the constellation Taurus, lying on the tip of one of the bull's horns. The name comes from the Arabic expression "butting with horns". This star on ancient maps depicted the right leg of a human figure in the constellation Auriga and had another designation, Gamma Auriga. Elnat is a B-star.
18. (Epsilon Orionis; ε Ori, Alnilam). One of the three bright stars that make up Orion's belt. The Arabic name translates as "string of pearls". Alnilam - supergiant, B-star, variable
19. (Zeta Orionis; ζ Ori, Alnitak). One of the three bright stars that make up Orion's belt. The Arabic name translates as "belt". Alnitak is a supergiant, O-star, triple star.
20. (Epsilon Ursa Major; εUMa, Aliot). The brightest star in the constellation Ursa Major. The Greek letters in this case are assigned to the stars in the order of their position, not brightness. Alioth - A-star, possibly has a planet 15 times more massive than Jupiter.
21. (Alpha Ursa Major; αUMa, Dubhe). One of the two stars (the second - Merak) of the Big Dipper in Ursa Major, called Pointers. Giant, K-star, variable. The 5th magnitude companion revolves around it with a period of 44 years. Dubhe, literally "bear", is a shortened version of the Arabic name meaning "the back of a larger bear".
22. (Alpha Perseus;α Per, Mirfak). The brightest star in the constellation Perseus. Yellow supergiant, F-star, variable. The name, of Arabic origin, means "elbow".
23. (This Big Dipper; ηUMa, Benetnash). The star at the end of the tail. B-star, variable. The Arabic name means “leader of mourners” (for the Arabs, the constellation was seen as a hearse, not a bear).
24. (Beta Canis Major; βCM, Mirzam). The second brightest in the constellation Canis Major. The giant B-star, variable, is the prototype of a class of weakly variable stars like Beta Canis Majoris. Its brightness changes every six hours by several hundredths of a magnitude. Such a low level of variability is not detectable with the naked eye.
25. (Alpha Hydra; αHya, Alphard). The brightest star in the constellation Hydra. The name is of Arabic origin and means "secluded snake". Alphard - K-star, variable, triple.
26. (Alpha Ursa Minor; αUMi, Polar). The brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor, located near the north celestial pole (at a distance of less than one degree). Polaris is the closest Delta Cephei pulsating variable star to Earth with a period of 3.97 days. But Polaris is a very non-standard Cepheid: its pulsations decay over a period of about tens of years: in 1900, the change in brightness was ± 8%, and in 2005 - approximately 2%. In addition, during this time, the star became on average 15% brighter.

For the first time, the stars began to be distinguished by brightness in the II century BC by the ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus. He singled out 6 degrees in the glow and introduced the concept of magnitude. The German astronomer Johann Bayer at the beginning of the 17th century introduced the brightness of the stars in the constellations with the letters of the alphabet. The brightest luminaries for the human eye were called α of such and such a constellation, β - the next in brightness, etc.

The hotter the star, the more light it emits.

Blue stars are the most luminous. Less bright whites. Yellow stars have an average luminosity, and red giants are considered the dimmest. The luminosity of a celestial body is a variable value. For example, in, dated July 4, 1054, it tells about a star in the constellation Taurus so bright that it was visible even during the day. Over time, it began to fade, and after a year it could no longer be seen with the naked eye.

Now in the constellation of Taurus, you can observe the Crab Nebula - a trace after the explosion of a supernova. In the center of the nebula, astronomers have discovered a source of powerful radio emission - a pulsar. This is all that remains of the supernova explosion observed in 1054.

The brightest stars in the sky

The brightest stars in the Northern Hemisphere are Deneb in the constellation Cygnus and Rigel in the constellation Orion. They exceed the luminosity of the Sun by 72,500 and 55,000 times, respectively. They are at a distance of 1600 and 820 light years from Earth. Another star of the North - Betelgeuse - is also located in the constellation of Orion. It emits 22,000 times more light than the Sun.

Most of the brightest stars in the Northern Hemisphere can be observed in the constellation of Orion.

Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major, is the brightest star visible from Earth. It can be observed in the Southern Hemisphere. Sirius is only 22.5 times brighter than the Sun, but the distance to this star is small by cosmic standards - 8.6 light years. The polar star in the constellation Ursa Minor, like 6000 Suns, but it is 780 light-years away from us, so it looks dimmer than close Sirius.

In the constellation Taurus is a star with the astronomical name UW CMa. You can only see her. This blue star is distinguished by its gigantic density and small spherical magnitude. It is 860,000 times brighter than the Sun. This unique celestial body is considered the brightest object in the observable part of the Universe.

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• brightest stars in the northern hemisphere

The starry sky is mesmerizing. It amazed people with its greatness from time immemorial. From the realization that the Earth is just a grain of sand of the Universe, the heart stops. How many in the sky, no one can say with accuracy, you can only find out which star appears first.

Instruction

The first bright spot in the evening sky is Venus, although it is not a star at all. If you want to see it, then immediately after sunset, look to the west. Of course, it all depends on the weather conditions and time of year, but most often it is Venus that can be observed first. This is the second planet from the Sun, some call it the "evening star". Even with the onset of night, it stands out quite brightly against the background of other stars, it is difficult not to notice it. However, you can observe Venus for a short time, only a couple of hours, by the middle of the night it seems to disappear. Few people know, but Venus can also be called a “morning star”, because when they have already gone out, this bright point continues to shine against the backdrop of dawn. People have sung Venus since time immemorial, deified it, praised it in poems, portrayed it on canvases. Yes, Venus is a planet, but for many, even today, as in ancient times, it remains the "evening star".

Of all the stars, Sirius shines brightest for us, which is why it can be seen in the evening sky. The fact is that Sirius is located very close to the Earth, of course, if we talk on a cosmic scale. The distance from the planet Earth to the legendary star is only nine light years. However, in fact, Sirius is an ordinary star, no different from others. Only because of the small distance, Sirius seems to be a majestic bright giant against the background of other, more distant stars.