If you ask any random person, then almost everyone will answer - "". This star is without a doubt the brightest and most popular, which is why most people think that she is popular because she is the brightest. However, it is not. Polaris takes only 42nd place in brightness among the stars of the night sky.
Stars have different brightness and color. Each star has its own, to which it is attached from the moment of birth. In the formation of any star, the dominant element is 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. Stars of low mass, due to low temperatures, are red, dim, and burn their fuel slowly - the longest-lived ones 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. Not surprisingly, the most massive and hottest stars are also the brightest. The most massive and hottest stars can be tens of thousands of times brighter than the Sun!
What is the brightest star in the sky?
This is not as simple a question as it seems. It all depends on what you mean by the brightest star.
Speaking of the brightest star in the sky that we see- that's one thing. And if by brightness we mean the amount of light emitted by a star, then this is completely different. One star in the sky can be brighter than another simply because it is closer than the larger, brighter stars.
When they talk about the brightest star in the sky
When talking about the brightest star in the sky, it is necessary to distinguish between the apparent and absolute brightness of the stars. They are usually called the apparent and absolute stellar magnitudes, respectively.
- Apparent magnitude is the brightness of a star in the night sky as viewed from Earth.
- The absolute magnitude is the brightness of a star from a distance of 10 parsecs.
The smaller the magnitude, the brighter the star.
is the brightest star in the night sky
The brightest star in the sky is undoubtedly Sirius. It shines and is highly visible in the Northern Hemisphere during the winter months. The apparent stellar magnitude of Sirius is -1.46 m. Sirius is 20 times brighter than the Sun and twice as massive as it. The star is located approximately 8.6 light years from the Sun and is one of the stars closest to us. Its brilliance is the result of its true brightness and its proximity to us. 
Sirius is a double star, the brightest star in the night sky, which is part of the constellation Canis Major, is also called α Canis Major. A binary star is a system of two gravitationally bound stars circulating in closed orbits around a common center of mass. The second star, Sirius B, has a magnitude of 8.4, is slightly lighter than the Sun and is the first to be discovered, and also the most massive, discovered to date. The average distance between these stars is about 20 AU. e., which is comparable to the distance from the Sun to Uranus. The age of Sirius (according to calculations) is approximately 230 million years.
Sirius A will exist on the main sequence for about 660 million more years, after which it will turn into a red giant, and then shed its outer shell and become a white dwarf. Therefore, the estimated duration of the life cycle of Sirius A can be about 1 billion years.
List of brightest stars
Distance: 0.0000158 light years
Apparent magnitude: −26,72
Absolute magnitude: 4,8
Sirius (α Canis Major)
Distance: 8.6 light years
Apparent magnitude: −1,46
Absolute magnitude: 1,4
Canopus (α Carinae)
Distance: 310 light years
Apparent magnitude: −0,72
Absolute magnitude: −5,53
Toliman (α Centauri)
Distance: 4.3 light years
Apparent magnitude: −0,27
Absolute magnitude: 4,06
Arcturus (α Bootes)
Distance: 36.7 light years
Apparent magnitude: −0,05
Absolute magnitude: −0,3
In January, social media users began sharing photos of an unusually bright star in the night sky. They immediately remembered the prediction of the “British scientist” David Meade, who believes that in 2017 the Earth will collide with the “planet X” and die. Alas, the death of the Earth is a little delayed. The star in the southwest is Venus.
Here is a photo posted on Instagram the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump by user Igor Gulakov. The photo was taken on a phone, and in the frame is a bright object in the night sky, similar to a star, but unusual in size and luminosity.
I looked up at the sky tonight. A very large, bright star burned in the southwest. By analogy with the Christmas star, the veneration of the Magi, an unusual president appeared today. God willing, if he brings peace. The main thing is that some Herod does not arrange a beating of babies, otherwise they are already arranging unrest, demonstrations.
Many in January noticed that in the southwest after sunset until midnight in clear weather a large star is visible.
Many wondered: what kind of celestial body is this?
Is the big, bright "star" I'm looking at right now the same asteroid that was talked about recently?
A bewitching spectacle.Treeta ☯ 生きることを支援 (@treeta_miobitat) January 25, 2017
Indeed, last year the "famous British scientist" David Meade said that within a year the Earth would collide with a roaming celestial body known as "Planet X", and in January he repeated his prediction. He has long predicted that this will happen someday, and even wrote a book about it. Allegedly, signs of destruction are already visible on Earth, for example, earthquakes have become more frequent. The rich have long been building bunkers to save themselves, but this most likely will not help them.
The version with the end of the world began to be actively discussed on the 2ch forum.
Knowing anons, what kind of star has been shining in the sky for a week now, breaking through the city glare? Us ***?
There is jubilation in the comments.
Many perceive the unusual celestial phenomenon with a mixture of apprehension and irony. Some are just ironic.
What is this huge star burning in the evening in the west? Not Sirius, not Venus, not the asteroid Vesta.
It's Elvis coming back and a new era is about to begin.
In fact, the bright star in the southwest is just our neighbor planet, Venus. Venus in January or March in clear weather is often mistaken for a UFO, then for a comet, then for the end of the world. For example, the year before last, such pictures were published by residents of Tver, who were lucky with the weather.
Medialeaks called the Pulkovo Observatory to dispel the last doubts that the "Christmas Star" in honor of Trump and the "planet Nibiru" is Venus. Observatory spokesman Sergei Smirnov confirmed our worst fears: yes, this is the most common planet, the second from the Sun. It was just visible now. It is easy to understand that Venus is in front of you, and not a UFO or an "asteroid", if you look closely at what is around.
Mars is visible to the left and above this bright spot. It is further away and smaller in size, but is also visible to people with good eyesight or those who have chosen glasses well. This is a reliable sign that the bright celestial body is exactly Venus. Now the position of the planets is so favorable for observation, and Venus will shine with a bright lantern for the whole of February. I hope not only for our New Year, but also for the eastern one - according to the Chinese calendar.
Last October, Cassini photographs of Saturn's pole made a splash. It turned out that over the past four years, the North Pole of the planet Saturn. Scientists are not sure what caused it. But there are hypotheses, and they reassure.
Around the same time. Belief in the "planet Nibiru", which sooner or later will destroy us, has been indestructible for thousands of years.
Previously, especially for those who are not indifferent to gas and dust nebulae and the event horizon, in gifs and words.
Previously, many people were mistaken, believing that the brightest star is the North. However, in terms of its “shining” capabilities, this star is somewhat behind Sirius, and in the city night sky, due to the illumination of lanterns, it can be problematic to find the North Star.
Among the brightest celestial bodies, it is impossible not to mention the Sun, which ideally supports life on our planet. It really shines brightly, however, on the scale of the entire Universe, it is not too big and bright. If we find the absolute value, then such a parameter for the Sun will be equal to 4.75. This means that if the celestial body were located in 10 parsecs, then it would hardly be possible to notice it with the naked eye. There are other stars that are much larger in size than our heavenly body, and, therefore, shine much brighter.
It is the brightest star that can be observed from Earth. It is perfectly visible from almost all points of our planet, but it can be best observed in the northern hemisphere in winter. People have honored Sirius since ancient times. For example, the Egyptian people, with the help of this star, determined when the Nile River would begin to flood and when the sowing campaign should begin. From the appearance of a star, the Greeks counted the approach of the hottest days of the year. Sirius was considered no less important for sailors, who with its help navigated the sea. To find Sirius in the night sky, one has only to mentally draw a line between the three stars of Orion's belt. At the same time, one end of the line will rest against Aldebaran, and the other - against Sirius, which pleases the eye with an unusually bright glow.
This star, located in the constellation Canis Major, is a double. It is located at a distance of only eight light years from Earth. It consists of Sirius A (bright and large) and Sirius B (white dwarf), which indicates that the star is a system.
This star, although not as famous as Sirius, is second only to him in brightness. From the territory of our country, this star is almost impossible to see (as well as from almost the entire northern hemisphere). However, in the southern hemisphere, Canopus is a kind of guiding star, which is used as an orienting sign by navigators. In Soviet times, it was the main one for astrocorrection, and Sirius was used as a backup star.
This star, located in the Tarantula Nebula, cannot be seen without special instruments. And all because it is located far from the Earth - at a distance of 165,000 light years. But, nevertheless, it is the brightest and one of the largest stars that are known today in our universe. This star is 9,000,000 times brighter than the light of the Sun, and it is 10,000,000 times larger than it. A star with such an incomprehensible name belongs to the class of blue giants, which are quite a rarity. Since there are very few such stars, they are of genuine interest to scientists. Most of all, researchers are interested in what it will turn into after its death, and they model various options.
The largest star, which is also considered the brightest. The dimensions of VY Canis Majora were determined relatively recently. If you place this star in the central part of the solar system, then its edge can block the orbit of Jupiter, just a little short of reaching the orbit of Saturn. And if you stretch the circumference of the star into a line, then in order for the light to overcome this distance, you need at least 8-5 hours. In diameter, this celestial object exceeds the diameter of the Earth by two thousand times. And, despite the fact that the density of the star is quite small (0.01 g/m3), this object is still considered to be quite bright.
Want to know which stars are the brightest in the night sky? Then read our rating of the TOP 10 brightest celestial bodies that are very easy to see at night with the naked eye. But first, a little history.
Historical view of magnitude
Approximately 120 years before Christ, the Greek astronomer Hipparchus created the very first catalog of stars known today. Despite the fact that this work did not survive to this day, it is assumed that Hipparchus' list included about 850 stars (Subsequently, in the second century AD, Hipparchus' catalog was expanded to 1022 stars thanks to the efforts of another Greek astronomer, Ptolemy. Hipparchus contributed to his list of stars that could be distinguished in every constellation known at that time, he carefully described the location of each celestial body, and also sorted them on a scale of brightness - from 1 to 6, where 1 meant the maximum possible brightness (or "magnitude") .
This method of measuring brightness is still used today. It is worth noting that at the time of Hipparchus there were no telescopes yet, therefore, looking at the sky with the naked eye, the ancient astronomer could distinguish only stars of the 6th magnitude (the least luminous) by dimness. Today, with modern ground-based telescopes, we are able to distinguish very dim stars, the magnitude of which reaches 22m. Whereas the Hubble Space Telescope is able to distinguish objects of magnitude up to 31m.
Apparent stellar magnitude - what is it?
With the advent of more precise light-measuring instruments, astronomers have decided to use decimal fractions for stellar magnitudes—2.75m, for example—rather than just rough numbers of 2s or 3s.
Today we know stars whose magnitude is brighter than 1m. For example, Vega, which is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, has an apparent magnitude of 0. Any star that shines brighter than Vega will have a negative magnitude. For example, Sirius, the brightest star in our night sky, has an apparent magnitude of -1.46m.
Usually when astronomers talk about magnitudes they mean "apparent magnitude". As a rule, in such cases, a small Latin letter m is added to the numerical value - for example, 3.24m. This is a measure of the brightness of a star that a person observes from Earth, without taking into account the presence of the atmosphere, which affects the view.
Absolute stellar magnitude - what is it?
However, the brightness of a star depends not only on the power of its glow, but also on the degree of its remoteness from the Earth. For example, if you light a candle at night, it will shine brightly and illuminate everything around you, but if you move 5-10 meters away from it, its glow will no longer be enough, its brightness will decrease. In other words, you noticed a difference in brightness, although the flame of the candle remained the same all the time.
Based on this fact, astronomers have found a new way to measure the brightness of a star, which has been called "absolute magnitude". This method determines how bright a star would be if it were exactly 10 parsecs (approximately 33 light years) from Earth. For example, the Sun has an apparent magnitude of -26.7m (because it is very, very close), while its absolute magnitude is only +4.8m.
Absolute magnitude is usually given with a capital M, such as 2.75M. This method measures the actual power of the star's glow, without correction for distance or other factors (such as gas clouds, dust absorption or scattering of the star's light).
1. Sirius ("Dog Star") / Sirius
All the stars in the night sky shine, but none shine as brightly as Sirius. The name of the star comes from the Greek word "Seirius", which means "burning" or "scorching". With an absolute magnitude of -1.42M, Sirius is the brightest star in our sky after the Sun. This bright star is located in the constellation Canis Major, which is why it is often called the Dog Star. In ancient Greece, it was believed that with the appearance of Sirius in the first minutes of dawn, the hottest part of the summer began - the season of "dog days".
However, today Sirius is no longer a signal for the beginning of the hottest part of summer, but all because the Earth, over a cycle of 25,800 years, slowly oscillates around its axis. What causes the position of the stars in the night sky to change.
Sirius is 23 times brighter than our Sun, but at the same time its diameter and mass exceeds our celestial body only twice. Note that the distance to the Dog Star is relatively small by space standards, 8.5 light years, and it is this fact that determines, to a greater extent, the brightness of this star - it is the 5th closest star to our Sun.
Hubble image: Sirius A (brighter and more massive star) and Sirius B (bottom left, dimmer and smaller companion) In 1844, the German astronomer Friedrich Besse noticed the Sirius wobble and suggested that the wobble might be caused by the presence of a companion star. After almost 20 years, in 1862, Bessel's assumptions were 100% confirmed: astronomer Alvan Clark, while testing his new 18.5-inch refractor (the largest in the world at that time), discovered that Sirius is not one star, but two.
This discovery gave rise to a new class of stars: "white dwarfs". Such stars have a very dense core, since all the hydrogen in them has already been used up. Astronomers have calculated that Sirius' companion - named Sirius B - has the mass of our Sun packed into the dimensions of our Earth.
Sixteen milliliters of Sirius B substance (B is a Latin letter) would weigh about 2 tons on Earth. Since the discovery of Sirius B, its more massive companion has been called Sirius A.
How to find Sirius: The most successful time for observing Sirius is winter (for observers of the northern hemisphere), since the Dog Star appears quite early in the evening sky. To find Sirius, use the constellation Orion as a guide, or rather its three stars from the belt. Draw a line from the leftmost star of Orion's belt, tilted 20 degrees towards the southeast. As an assistant, you can use your own fist, which at arm's length covers about 10 degrees of the sky, so you will need about two widths of your fist.
2. Canopus / Canopus
Canopus is the brightest star in the constellation Carina, and the second brightest star after Sirius in the Earth's night sky. The Carina constellation is relatively young (by astronomical standards), and one of the three constellations that were once part of the huge constellation Argo Navis, named after Jason's Odyssey and the Argonauts who fearlessly set off in search of the Golden Fleece. The other two constellations form the sail (the constellation Sail/Vela) and the stern (the constellation Puppis).
Nowadays, spacecraft use the light from Canopus as a guide in outer space - a vivid example of this is the Soviet interplanetary stations and Voyager 2.
Canopus is fraught with truly incredible power. He is not as close to us as Sirius, but very bright. In the ranking of the 10 brightest stars in our night sky, this star takes 2nd place, surpassing our sun in light by 14,800 times! At the same time, Canopus is located 316 light-years from the Sun, which is 37 times farther than the brightest star in our night sky, Sirius.
Canopus is a yellow-white F class supergiant star with temperatures ranging from 5500 to 7800 degrees Celsius. It has already exhausted all of its hydrogen reserves, and is now converting its helium core into carbon. This helped the star "grow": Canopus exceeds the size of the Sun by 65 times. If we were to replace the Sun with Canopus, this yellow-white giant would gobble up everything before Mercury's orbit, including the planet itself.
Ultimately, Canopus will become one of the largest white dwarfs in the galaxy, and it may even be large enough to completely recycle all of its carbon reserves, making it a very rare type of neon-oxygen white dwarf. Rare because white dwarfs with a carbon-oxygen core are the most common, but Canopus is so massive that it can begin to convert its carbon into neon and oxygen during its transformation into a smaller, cooler, denser object.
How to find Canopus: With an apparent magnitude of -0.72m, Canopus is fairly easy to spot in the starry sky, but in the northern hemisphere, this celestial body can only be seen south of 37 degrees north latitude. Focus on Sirius (read how to find it above), Canopis is located about 40 degrees north of the brightest star in our night sky.
3. Alpha Centauri / Alpha Centauri
The star Alpha Centauri (also known as Rigel Centauri) is actually made up of three stars bound together by the force of gravity. The two main (read more massive) stars are Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, while the system's smallest star, a red dwarf, is called Alpha Centauri C.
The Alpha Centauri system is interesting to us primarily for its proximity: being at a distance of 4.3 light years from our Sun, these are the closest stars known to us today.
Alpha Centauri A and B are quite similar to our Sun, while Centaurus A can even be called a twin star (both luminaries are yellow G-class stars). In terms of luminosity, Centauri A is 1.5 times the luminosity of the Sun, while its apparent magnitude is 0.01m. As for Centaurus B, it is half as bright as its brighter companion, Centaurus A, in luminosity, and its apparent magnitude is 1.3m. The luminosity of the red dwarf, Centaurus C, is negligible compared to the other two stars, and its apparent magnitude is 11m.
Of these three stars, the smallest is also the closest - 4.22 light years separate Alpha Centauri C from our Sun - which is why this red dwarf is also called Proxima Centauri (from the Latin word proximus - close).
On clear summer nights, the Alpha Centauri system shines in the sky with a magnitude of -0.27m. True, this unusual three-star system is best observed in the southern hemisphere of the Earth, starting from 28 degrees north latitude and further south.
Even with a small telescope, two of the brightest stars in the Alpha Centauri system can be seen.
How to find Alpha Centauri: Alpha Centauri is located at the very bottom of the constellation Centaurus. Also, in order to find this three-star system, you can first find the constellation of the Southern Cross in the starry sky, then mentally continue the horizontal line of the cross towards the west, and you will first stumble upon the star Hadar, and a little further Alpha Centauri will shine brightly.
4. Arcturus / Arcturus
The first three stars in our ranking are mostly visible in the southern hemisphere. Arcturus is the brightest star in the northern hemisphere. It is noteworthy that, given the binary nature of the Alpha Centauri system, Arcturus can be considered the third brightest star in the Earth's night sky, since it surpasses the brightest star in the Alpha Centauri system, Centauri A (-0.05m versus -0.01m) in brightness.
Arcturus, also known as the "Guardian of the Bear", is an integral satellite of the constellation Ursa Major (Ursa Major), and is very clearly visible in the northern hemisphere of the Earth (in Russia it is visible almost everywhere). Arcturus got its name from the Greek word "arktos", which means "bear".
Arcturus belongs to the type of stars called "orange giants", its mass is twice the mass of our Sun, while in terms of luminosity, the "Guardian of the Bear" bypasses our daytime star by 215 times. Light from Arcturus needs to travel 37 Earth years to reach Earth, so when we observe this star from our planet, we see what it was like 37 years ago. The brightness of the glow in the night sky of the Earth "Guard Bear" is -0.04m.
It is noteworthy that Arcturus is in the last stages of his stellar life. Due to the constant struggle between gravity and the pressure of the star, the Bear Guard is today 25 times the diameter of our Sun.
Ultimately, the outer layer of Arcturus will disintegrate and turn into a planetary nebula, similar to the well-known Ring Nebula (M57) in the constellation Lyra. After that, Arcturus will turn into a white dwarf.
It is noteworthy that in the spring, using the above method, you can easily find the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, Spica / Spica. To do this, after you find Arcturus, you just need to continue the arc of the Big Dipper further.
How to find Arcturus: Arcturus is the alpha (i.e. the brightest star) of the spring constellation Bootes. To find the "Guardian of the Bear", it is enough to first find the Big Dipper (Big Dipper) and mentally continue the arc of its handle until you stumble upon a bright orange star. This will be Arcturus, a star that forms, in the composition of several other stars, the figure of a kite.
5. Vega / Vega
The name "Vega" comes from Arabic and means "soaring eagle" or "soaring predator" in Russian. Vega is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, also home to the equally famous Ring Nebula (M57) and the star Epsilon Lyra.
Ring Nebula (M57) The Ring Nebula is a luminous shell of gas, somewhat similar to a smoke ring. Presumably this nebula was formed after the explosion of an old star. Epsilon Lyrae, in turn, is a double star, and this can even be seen with the naked eye. However, looking at this double star, even through a small telescope, you can see that each individual star also consists of two stars! That is why Epsilon Lyrae is often referred to as a "double double" star.
Vega is a hydrogen-burning dwarf star, 54 times brighter than our Sun in brightness, while exceeding it in mass by only 1.5 times. Vega is located 25 light-years from the Sun, which is relatively small by cosmic standards, its apparent magnitude in the night sky is 0.03m.
In 1984, astronomers discovered a disk of cold gas surrounding Vega - the first of its kind - extending from the star to a distance of 70 astronomical units (1AU = the distance from the Sun to the Earth). By the standards of the Solar System, the margins of such a disk would end approximately at the borders of the Kuiper Belt. This is a very important discovery, because it is believed that a similar disk was present in our solar system at the stages of its formation, and served as the beginning of the formation of planets in it.
It is noteworthy that astronomers have found "holes" in the disk of gas surrounding Vega, which may well indicate that planets have already formed around this star. This discovery attracted the American astronomer and writer Carl Sagan to choose Vega as the source of intelligent extraterrestrial signals transmitted to Earth in his first science fiction novel, Contact. Note that in real life, such contacts have never been recorded.
Together with the bright stars Altair and Deneb, Vega forms the famous Summer Triangle, an asterism that symbolically signals the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere of the Earth. This area is ideal for viewing with any size telescope on warm, dark, cloudless summer nights.
Vega is the first star in the world to be photographed. This event took place on July 16, 1850, an astronomer at Harvard University acted as a photographer. Note that stars dimmer than the 2nd apparent magnitude were generally not available for photography, with the equipment available at that time.
How to find Vega: Vega is the second brightest star in the northern hemisphere, so finding it in the starry sky is not difficult. The easiest way to search for Vega is to search for the Summer Triangle asterism first. With the beginning of June in Russia, already with the onset of the first twilight, the “Summer Triangle” is clearly visible in the sky to the southeast. The upper right corner of the triangle forms just the same Vega, the upper left - Deneb, well, Altair shines below.
6. Capella / Capella
Capella is the brightest star in the constellation Auriga, the sixth brightest star in the Earth's night sky. If we talk about the northern hemisphere, here Capella takes an honorable third place among the brightest stars.
At the moment, it is known that Capella is an incredible system of 4 stars: 2 stars are yellow G-class giants similar to each other, the second pair are much dimmer stars of the “red dwarf” class. The brighter of the two yellow giant, named Aa, is 80 times brighter and almost three times as massive as our star. The dimmer yellow giant, known as Ab, is 50 times brighter than the Sun and 2.5 times heavier. If you combine the glow of these two yellow giants, then they will surpass our Sun in this indicator by 130 times.
Comparison of the Sun (Sol) and the stars of the Capella system The Capella system is located at a distance of 42 light years from us, and its apparent magnitude is 0.08m.
If you are at 44 degrees north latitude (Pyatigorsk, Russia) or even further north, you can observe the Chapel throughout the night: in these latitudes, it never goes beyond the horizon.
Both yellow giants are at the last stage of their lives, and very soon (by cosmic standards) will turn into a pair of white dwarfs.
How to find the Chapel: If you mentally draw a straight line through the two upper stars that form the bucket of the constellation Ursa Major, you will simply inevitably stumble upon the bright star Capella, which is part of the non-standard pentagon of the constellation Auriga.
7. Rigel / Rigel
In the lower right corner of the constellation Orion, the inimitable star Rigel shines regally. According to ancient legends, it was in the place where Rigel shines that the hunter Orion was bitten during a short fight with the insidious Scorpio. Translated from Arabic, "crossbar" means "foot".
Rigel is a multi-star system in which the brightest star is Rigel A, a blue supergiant, 40,000 times brighter than the Sun. Despite its distance from our celestial body of 775 light years, it shines in our night sky with an indicator of 0.12m.
Rigel is located in the most impressive, in our opinion, winter constellation, the invincible Orion. This is one of the most recognizable constellations (except perhaps the Big Dipper constellation), since Orion is very easy to identify by the shape of the stars, which resembles the outline of a person: three stars located close to each other symbolize the hunter's belt, while four stars located at the edges represent his arms and legs.
If you observe Rigel through a telescope, you can see his second companion star, the apparent magnitude of which is only 7m.
The mass of Rigel is 17 times the mass of the Sun, and it is likely that after some time it will turn into a supernova and our galaxy will be illuminated by an incredible light from its explosion. However, it may also happen that Rigel can turn into a rare oxygen-neon white dwarf.
Note that in the constellation of Orion there is another very interesting place: the Great Nebula of Orion (M42), it is located in the lower part of the constellation, under the so-called hunter's belt, and new stars still continue to be born here.
How to find Rigel: First you need to find the constellation Orion (in Russia it is observed throughout the territory). In the lower left corner of the constellation, the star Rigel will shine brightly.
8. Procyon / Procyon
The star Procyon is located in the small constellation Canis Minor. This constellation depicts the smaller of the two hunting dogs belonging to the hunter Orion (the larger, as you might guess, symbolizes the constellation Canis Major).
Translated from Greek, the word "procyon" means "ahead of the dog": in the northern hemisphere, Procyon is a harbinger of the appearance of Sirius, which is also called the "Dog Star".
Procyon is a yellow-white star, 7 times more luminous than the Sun, while in size it is only twice as big as our star. As in the case of Alpha Centauri, Procyon shines so brightly in our night sky due to its proximity to the Sun - 11.4 light-years separate our luminary and a distant star.
Procyon is at the end of its life cycle: now the star is actively converting the remaining hydrogen into helium. Now this star is twice the diameter of our Sun, making it one of the brightest celestial bodies in the Earth's night sky at a distance of 20 light years.
It is worth noting that Procyon, together with Betelgeuse and Sirius, forms the well-known and recognizable asterism, the Winter Triangle.
Procyon A and B and their comparison with the Earth and the Sun A white dwarf star revolves around Procyon, which was visually discovered in 1896 by the German astronomer John Schieber. At the same time, conjectures about the existence of a companion in Procyon were put forward as early as 1840, when another German astronomer, Arthur von Auswers, noticed some inconsistencies in the movement of a distant star, which with a high degree of probability could only be explained by the presence of a large and dim body.
The dimmer companion, named Procyon B, is one-third the size of Earth and has a mass of 60% that of the sun. The brighter star in this system has since been called Procyon A.
How to find Procyon: To begin with, we find the well-known constellation Orion. In this constellation, in the upper left corner, there is the star Betelgeuse (also included in our rating), mentally drawing a straight line from it in a westerly direction, you will certainly stumble upon Procyon.
9. Achernar
Achernar, translated from Arabic means "end of the river", which is quite natural: this star is the most southern point of the constellation bearing the name of the river from ancient Greek mythology, Eridanus.
Achernar is the hottest star in our TOP 10 rating, its temperature varies from 13 to 19 thousand degrees Celsius. This star is also incredibly bright: in terms of luminosity, it is about 3150 times brighter than our Sun. With an apparent magnitude of 0.45m, light from Achernar takes 144 Earth years to reach our planet.
The constellation Eridani with its extreme point, the star Achernar Achernar is quite close in apparent magnitude to the star Betelgeuse (number 10 in our rating). However, Achernar is generally ranked as the 9th brightest star in the rankings, as Betelgeuse is a variable star whose apparent magnitude can drop from 0.5m to as low as 1.2m, as it did in 1927 and 1941.
Achernar is a massive class B star, eight times the mass of our Sun. Now it is actively converting its hydrogen into helium, which will eventually turn it into a white dwarf.
It is noteworthy that for a planet of the class of our Earth, the most comfortable distance from Achernar (with the possibility of the existence of water in liquid form) would be a distance of 54-73 astronomical units, that is, in the Solar System it would be beyond the orbit of Pluto.
How to find Achernar: on the territory of Russia, alas, this star is invisible. In general, for a comfortable observation of Achernar, you need to be south of the 25th degree of North latitude. To find Achernar, mentally draw a straight line in a southerly direction through the stars Betelgeuse and Rigel. The first super-bright star you will see will be Achernar.
10. Betelgeuse / Betelgeuse
Do not think that the importance of Betelgeuse is as low as its position in our ranking. A distance of 430 light-years hides from us the true scale of the super-giant star. However, even at such a distance, Betelgeuse continues to sparkle in the earth's night sky with an indicator of 0.5m, while this star is 55 thousand times brighter than the Sun.
Betelgeuse in Arabic means "armpit hunter."
Betelgeuse marks the eastern shoulder of the mighty Orion from the constellation of the same name. Also, Betelgeuse is also called Alpha Orion, that is, in theory, it should be the brightest star in its constellation. However, in fact, the brightest star in the constellation Orion is the star Rigel. This oversight, most likely, was due to the fact that Betelgeuse is a variable star (a star that changes its brightness from time to time). Therefore, it is likely that at the time when Johannes Bayer estimated the brightness of these two stars, Betelgeuse shone brighter than Rigel.
If Betelgeuse replaced the sun in the solar system The star Betelgeuse is a red supergiant of class M1, its diameter is 650 times the diameter of our Sun, while in mass it is only 15 times heavier than our celestial body. If we imagine that Betelgeuse becomes our Sun, then everything that is before the orbit of Mars will be absorbed by this giant star!
When you start observing Betelgeuse, you will see a star at the sunset of your long life. Its huge mass suggests that it is most likely that it converts all of its elements into iron. If this is so, then in the near future (by cosmic standards) Betelgeuse will explode and turn into a supernova, while the explosion will be so bright that it can be compared in terms of its glow power with the glow of a crescent moon visible from Earth. The birth of a supernova will leave behind a dense neutron star. According to another theory, Betelgeuse may turn into a rare type of neon-oxygen dwarf star.
How to find Betelgeuse: First you need to find the constellation Orion (in Russia it is observed throughout the territory). In the upper right corner of the constellation, the star Betelgeuse will shine brightly.
Not everyone knows the names of stars and constellations, but many have heard the most popular of them.
Constellations are expressive star groups, and there is a special magic in the names of stars and constellations.
The information that tens of thousands of years ago, even before the emergence of the first civilizations, people began to give them names - no one doubts. The cosmos is filled with heroes and monsters from legends, and the sky of our northern latitudes is mainly inhabited by the characters of the Greek epic.
Photos of constellations in the sky and their names
48 ancient constellations are the decoration of the celestial sphere. Each has a legend associated with it. And no wonder - the stars played a big role in people's lives. Navigation, large-scale agriculture would be impossible without a good knowledge of the celestial bodies.
Of all the constellations, non-setting ones are distinguished, located at 40 degrees of latitude or higher. They are always visible to the inhabitants of the northern hemisphere, regardless of the time of year.
5 main non-setting constellations in alphabetical order - The Dragon, Cassiopeia, Ursa Major and Minor, Cepheus . They are visible all year round, especially well in the south of Russia. Although at northern latitudes the circle of non-setting stars is wider.
It is significant that the objects of the constellations are not necessarily located nearby. To an earthly observer, the surface of the sky looks flat, but in fact some stars are much farther than others. Therefore, it would be incorrect to write “the ship made a jump into the constellation Microscope” (there is such a thing in the southern hemisphere). "The ship can make a jump towards the Microscope" - so it will be correct.
The brightest star in the sky
The brightest is Sirius in Canis Major. At our northern latitudes, it is visible only in winter. One of the closest large cosmic bodies to the sun, its light flies to us for only 8.6 years.
The Sumerians and the ancient Egyptians had the status of a deity. 3,000 years ago, the Egyptian priests, by the ascent of Sirius, accurately determined the time of the flood of the Nile.
Sirius is a double star. The visible component (Sirius A) is about 2 times more massive than the Sun and shines 25 times stronger. Sirius B is a white dwarf with a mass almost like that of the sun, with a brightness of a quarter of the sun.
Sirius B is possibly the most massive white dwarf known to astronomers. Ordinary dwarfs of this class are twice as light.
Arcturus in Bootes is the brightest in the northern latitudes and is one of the most unusual luminaries. Age - 7.3 billion years, almost half the age of the universe. With a mass approximately equal to the sun, it is 25 times larger, since it consists of the lightest elements - hydrogen, helium. Apparently, when Arcturus formed, there were not so many metals and other heavy elements in the universe.
Like a king in exile, Arcturus moves through space surrounded by a retinue of 52 smaller stars. Perhaps they are all part of the galaxy that our Milky Way swallowed up a very, very long time ago.
Arcturus is almost 37 light-years away - also not so far, on a cosmic scale. It belongs to the class of red giants and shines 110 times stronger than the Sun. The picture shows the comparative sizes of Arcturus and the Sun.
Names of stars by color
The color of a star depends on the temperature, and the temperature depends on the mass and age. The hottest are young massive blue giants, their surface temperature reaches 60,000 Kelvin, and their mass is up to 60 solar masses. The class B stars are not much inferior, the brightest representative of which is Spica, the alpha constellation Virgo.
The coldest are small, old red dwarfs. On average, the surface temperature is 2-3 thousand Kelvin, and the mass is one third of the sun. The diagram clearly shows how the color depends on the size.
By temperature and color, stars are divided into 7 spectral classes, indicated in the astronomical description of the object in Latin letters.
Beautiful names of stars
The language of modern astronomy is dry and practical; among the atlases you will not find stars with names. But the ancient people named the brightest and most important night luminaries. Most of the names are of Arabic origin, but there are also those that go back to hoary antiquity, to the times of the ancient Akkadians and Sumerians.
Polar. Dim, the last in the handle of the bucket of Ursa Minor, a guiding sign for all sailors of antiquity. Polar almost does not move and always points to the north. Every people in the northern hemisphere has a name for her. "Iron stake" of the ancient Finns, "Tethered horse" of the Khakasses, "Hole in the sky" of the Evenks. The ancient Greeks, famous travelers and sailors, called the polar "Kinosura", which translates as "dog's tail".
Sirius. The name, apparently, came from ancient Egypt, where the star was associated with the hypostasis of the goddess Isis. In ancient Rome, it was called Vacation, and our "vacation" comes straight from this word. The fact is that Sirius appeared in Rome at dawn, in the summer, during the days of the greatest heat, when the life of the city died down.
Aldebaran. In its movement it always follows the Pleiades cluster. In Arabic it means "follower". The Greeks and Romans called Aldebaran "The Eye of the Bull".
The Pioneer 10 probe, launched in 1972, is moving just in the direction of Aldebaran. The estimated time of arrival is 2 million years.
Vega. Arab astronomers called it the “Falling Eagle” (An nahr Al Wagi). In ancient Rome, the day when she crossed the horizon before sunrise was considered the last day of summer.
Vega was the first (after the Sun) photographed star. It happened almost 200 years ago in 1850, at the Oxford Observatory.
Betelgeuse. The Arabic designation is Yad Al Juza (twin's hand). In the Middle Ages, due to confusion in translation, the word was read as "Bel Juza", and "Betelgeuse" arose.
Fantasies love stars. One of the characters in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy hails from a small planet in the Betelgeuse system.
Fomalhaut. Alpha Southern Pisces. In Arabic - "Fish Mouth". 18th brightest night luminary. Archaeologists have discovered evidence of the veneration of Fomalhaut as early as the prehistoric period, 2.5 thousand years ago.
canopus. One of the few stars whose name does not have Arabic roots. According to the Greek version, the word goes back to Canopus, the helmsman of King Menelaus.
The planet Arrakis, from the famous series of books by F. Herbert, revolves around Canopus.
How many constellations are in the sky
As it was established, people united stars into groups as early as 15,000 years ago. In the first written sources, that is, 2 millennia ago, 48 constellations are described. They are still in the sky, only the big Argo no longer exists - it was divided into 4 smaller ones - Stern, Sail, Keel and Compass.
Thanks to the development of navigation, in the 15th century, new constellations begin to appear. Fanciful figures adorn the sky - Peacock, Telescope, Indian. The exact year when the last of them appeared is known - 1763.
At the beginning of the last century, a general revision of the constellations took place. Astronomers counted 88 star groups - 28 in the northern hemisphere and 45 in the southern. The 13 constellations of the zodiac belt stand apart. And this is the final result, astronomers do not plan to add new ones.
Constellations of the northern hemisphere - list with pictures
Unfortunately, it is impossible to see all 28 constellations in one night, the celestial mechanics is inexorable. But in return we have a pleasant variety. Winter and summer skies look different.
Let's talk about the most interesting and noticeable constellations.
Big Dipper- the main landmark of the night sky. With it, it is easy to find other astronomical objects.
tail tip Ursa Minor- the famous Pole Star. Celestial bears have long tails, unlike earthly relatives.
The Dragon- a large constellation between Ursa. It is impossible not to mention the μ Dragon which is called Arrakis, which means “dancer” in ancient Arabic. Kuma (ν Dragon) - double, which is observed with ordinary binoculars.
It is known that ρ Cassiopeia - supergiant, it is hundreds of thousands of times brighter than the Sun. In 1572, the last explosion to date took place in Cassiopeia.
The ancient Greeks did not agree on whose Lyra. Different legends give it to different heroes - Apollo, Orpheus or Orion. The notorious Vega enters Lyra.
Orion- the most noticeable astronomical formation of our sky. The large stars of Orion's belt are called the three kings or magi. The famous Betelgeuse is located here.
Cepheus can be observed all year round. In 8,000 years, one of its stars, Alderamin, will become the new polar star.
AT Andromeda lies the nebula M31. This is a neighboring galaxy, visible to the naked eye on a clear night. The Andromeda Nebula is 2 million light years away from us.
Beautifully named constellation Veronica's hair owes the Egyptian queens, who sacrificed their hair to the gods. In the direction of the Coma Veronica is the north pole of our galaxy.
Alpha Bootes famous Arcturus. Behind Bootes, at the very edge of the observable universe, is the galaxy Egsy8p7. This is one of the most distant objects known to astronomers - it is 13.2 billion light years away.
Constellations for kids - all the fun
Curious young astronomers will be interested to learn about the constellations and see them in the sky. Parents can arrange a night tour for their children, talking about the amazing science of astronomy and seeing some of the constellations with their own eyes with the children. These short and understandable stories will surely appeal to little explorers.
Ursa Major and Ursa Minor
In ancient Greece, the gods turned everyone into animals, and threw anyone into the sky. That's what they were. Once the wife of Zeus turned a nymph named Callisto into a bear. And the nymph had a little son who did not know anything about the fact that his mother became a bear.
When the son grew up, he became a hunter and went to the forest with a bow and arrows. And it so happened that he met a mother bear. When the hunter raised his bow and fired, Zeus stopped time and threw everyone together - the she-bear, the hunter and the arrow into the sky.
Since then, the Big Dipper has been walking in the sky along with the little one, into which the son-hunter has turned. And the arrow also remained in heaven, only it will never hit anywhere - such is the order in heaven.
The Big Dipper is always easy to find in the sky, it looks like a big bucket with a handle. And if you found the Big Dipper, then the Little Dipper is walking nearby. And although Ursa Minor is not so noticeable, there is a way to find it: the two extreme stars in the bucket will indicate the exact direction to the polar star - this is the tail of Ursa Minor.
polar Star
All the stars are slowly spinning, only the Polar one stands still. She always points to the north, for which she is called a guiding one.
In ancient times, people sailed on ships with large sails, but without a compass. And when the ship is on the high seas and the coast is not visible, you can easily get lost.
When this happened, the experienced captain waited for the night to see the North Star and find a northerly direction. And knowing the direction to the north, you can easily determine where the rest of the world is, and where to sail in order to bring the ship to its native port.
The Dragon
Among the night lights in the sky lives a star dragon. According to legend, the dragon participated in the wars of the gods and titans, at the very dawn of time. The goddess of war, Athena, in the heat of battle, took and threw a huge dragon into the sky, just between Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
The dragon is a large constellation: 4 stars form its head, 14 form its tail. Its stars are not very bright. It must be because the Dragon is already old. After all, a lot of time has passed since the dawn of time, even for the Dragon.
Orion
Orion was the son of Zeus. In his life, he accomplished many feats, became famous as a great hunter, became the favorite of Artemis, the goddess of hunting. Orion liked to brag about his strength and luck, but one day he was stung by a scorpion. Artemis rushed to Zeus and asked to save her pet. Zeus threw Orion into the sky, where the great hero of ancient Greece still lives.
Orion is the most remarkable constellation in the northern sky. It is large and consists of bright stars. In winter, Orion is fully visible and easy to find: look for a large hourglass with three bright bluish stars in the middle. These stars are called Orion's belt, their names are Alnitak (left), Alnilam (middle) and Mintak (right).
Knowing Orion, it is easier to navigate the rest of the constellations and find the stars.
Sirius
Knowing the position of Orion, one can easily find the famous Sirius. You need to draw a line to the right of Orion's belt. Just look for the brightest star. It is important to remember that it is visible in the northern sky only in winter.
Sirius is the brightest in the sky. Included in the constellation Canis Major, a faithful satellite of Orion.
There are actually two stars in Sirius circling each other. One star is hot and bright, we can see its light. And the other half is so dim that you can't see it with a regular telescope. But once upon a time, many millions of years ago, these parts were one huge whole. If we lived in those days, Sirius would shine for us 20 times stronger!
Q&A rubric
Which star's name means "brilliant, sparkling"?
— Sirius. It is so bright that it can be seen even during the day.
What constellations can be seen with the naked eye?
- Everything is possible. Constellations were invented by ancient people, long before the invention of the telescope. In addition, without having a telescope with you, you can even see planets, for example, Venus, Mercury and.
What is the largest constellation?
— Hydras. It is so long that it does not fit entirely in the northern sky and goes beyond the southern horizon. The length of the Hydra is almost a quarter of the circumference of the horizon.
What is the smallest constellation?
- The smallest, but at the same time the brightest - the Southern Cross. It is located in the southern hemisphere.
What constellation does the Sun belong to?
The Earth revolves around the Sun, and we see how in a year it passes through as many as 12 constellations, one for each month. They are called the Belt of the Zodiac.
Conclusion
The stars have long fascinated people. And although the development of astronomy allows us to look further and further into the depths of space, the charm of the ancient names of the stars does not go anywhere.
When we look up into the night sky, we see the past, ancient myths and legends, and the future, because one day people will go to the stars.
