What is the name of the brightest? The brightest star in the night sky

People have always admired the starry sky. Even in the Stone Age, living in caves and dressed in skins, at night they raised their heads to the sky and admired the glowing lights.


Today the stars still attract our eyes. We know well that the brightest of them is the Sun. But what are the others called? What are the brightest stars besides the Sun?

1 Sirius

Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. It is not much higher (only 22 times), but due to its proximity to the Earth, it is more noticeable than others. The star can be seen from almost any corner of the globe, except for the northern regions.

In 1862, astronomers discovered that Sirius had a companion star. Both of them revolve around a single center of mass, but only one of them is visible from the Earth - Sirius A. According to scientists, the star is gradually approaching the Sun. Its speed is 7.6 km / s, so over time it will become even brighter.

2. Canopus

Canopus is in the constellation Carina and is the second brightest after Sirius. It belongs to the supergiants, exceeding the Sun in radius by 65 times.

Among all the stars located at a distance of 700 light years from Earth, Canopus has the highest luminosity, but due to its remoteness, it does not shine as brightly as Sirius. Once, before the invention of the compass, sailors used it as a guiding star.

3. Toliman

Toliman is another name for Alpha Centauri. In fact, it is a binary system with stars A and B, but these stars are so close to each other that they cannot be distinguished with the naked eye. The third brightest in the sky is one of them - Alpha Centauri A.

In the same system there is another star - Proxima Centauri, but usually it is considered separately, and in terms of brightness it is not even included in the 25 stars with the highest luminosity.

4. Arcturus

Arcturus belongs to the orange giants and shines brighter than other stars included with it. In different regions of the Earth, it can be seen at different times of the year, but in Russia it is always visible.

According to the observations of astronomers, Arcturus is a variable star, that is, changing its brightness. Every 8 days, its brightness varies by 0.04 magnitude, which is explained by the pulsation of the surface.

5. Vega

The fifth brightest star is included in the constellation Lyra and is the most studied after the Sun. Vega is located at a small distance from the solar system (only 25 light years) and is visible from anywhere on the planet, with the exception of Antarctica and the northern regions of North America.

Around Vega is a disk of gas and dust, which, under the influence of its energy, emits infrared rays.

6. Chapel

From an astronomical point of view, the star is interesting for its binary system. Capella is two giant stars, 100 million kilometers apart. One of them called Chapel Aa is old and gradually begins to fade.


The second one, Capella Ab, still shines quite brightly, but, according to scientists, the processes of helium synthesis have already ended in it. Sooner or later, the shells of both stars will expand and touch each other.

7. Rigel

The luminosity of Rigel is 130 thousand times greater than the Sun. This is one of the most powerful stars in the Milky Way, but due to its remoteness from the solar system (773 light years), it is only seventh in brightness.

Like Arcturus, Rigel is considered a variable star and changes its brightness at intervals of 22 to 25 days.

8. Procyon

Procyon's distance from Earth is only 11.4 light years. Its system includes two stars - Procyon A (bright) and Procyon B (dim). The first is a yellow subgiant and shines about 7.5 times brighter than the Sun. Due to its age, over time it will begin to expand and will shine much better.

It is believed that sooner or later it will increase to 150 times its current size, and then take on an orange or red color.

9. Achernar

In the list of the 10 brightest stars in the sky, Achernar takes only ninth place, but at the same time she is the hottest and bluest. The star is located in the constellation Eridani and shines 3000 times brighter than the Sun.

An interesting feature of Achernar is a very fast rotation around its axis, as a result of which it has an elongated shape.

10. Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse's maximum luminosity is 105,000 times that of the Sun, but it's about 640 light-years from the solar system, so it's not as bright as the previous nine stars.


Due to the fact that the brightness of Betelgeuse gradually decreases from the center to the surface, scientists still cannot calculate its diameter.

THE BRIGHTEST STARS VISIBLE FROM THE EARTH

Many, looking at the sky after sunset, wonder what kind of bright white star appears near the moon, so I tend to think that it is VENUS. It is also visible in the morning at 6 o'clock, when I rush to work. But still, for comparison, I collected material.

Sirius, as we see on Wikipedia, is visible BEFORE sunset. Knowing the exact coordinates of Sirius in the sky, it can be seen during the day with the naked eye. For best viewing, the sky must be very clear and the Sun low. above horizon.

Jupiter can reach an apparent magnitude of −2.8, making it the third brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus. However, Jupiter is also called the Great Red Spot. However, at certain points

Marsmay briefly exceed Jupiter in brightness. Mars is called the "Red Planet" because of the reddish hue of the surface given to it by iron oxide. So, not white at all, which was required to be proved.

And here Venus, even in the photo of astronomers, it is THERE, UNDER THE MOON, where I and other lovers see it ...

Syriac

- (alpha constellation Canis Major) is located at a distance of 8.64 light years from us and is the brightest star visible in the night sky. A light year is the distance that light travels in one year, it is about 9.5 trillion km. The distance from Earth to Syria is approximately 80 trillion km. The Macca of Syria is 2.14 times the mass of the Sun, and the brightness is 24 times. It is also almost 2 times hotter: the temperature on its surface is about 100,000 C. Sirius is the star of the Southernhemispheres of the sky .In mid-latitudesRussia Sirius is observed in the southern part of the sky in autumn (in the morning), in winter (from sunrise to sunset) and in spring (visible for some time after sunset). Sirius is the sixth brightest object in the earth's sky. Only brighter than himThe sun , Moon , as well as planetsVenus , Jupiter andMars during the period of best visibility (see also:List of brightest stars ). For some time, Sirius was considered one of the stars of the so-calledmoving group Ursa Major . This group includes 220 stars, which are united by the same age and similar movement in space. The group was originallyopen star cluster , however, at present, the cluster as such does not exist - it broke up and became gravitationally unbound. So, most of the asterism stars belong to this cluster.Big Bucket in the Big Dipper. However, later scientists came to the conclusion that this is not so - Sirius is much younger than this cluster, and cannot be its representative.

Venus

- second internalplanet solar system with a period of revolution of 224.7 Earth days. The planet was named afterVenus , goddesses love outRoman pantheon deities.

Venus -brightest object in the night sky except for Moon , and reachesapparent magnitude at -4.6. Since Venus is closer to the Sun than Earth , it never seems too far from the Sun: the maximum angle between it and the Sun is 47.8°. Venus reaches its maximum brightness shortly before sunrise or some time after sunset, which gave reason to call it also Evening Star or

The best time to observe Venus is shortly before sunrise (some time after sunrise in morning visibility).

The science

The night sky is full objects of incredible beauty which can be seen even with the naked eye. If you do not have special equipment to look at the sky - it does not matter, some amazing things can be seen without it.

Spectacular comets, bright planets, distant nebulae, twinkling stars and constellations can all be found in the night sky.

The only important thing to remember about light pollution in big cities. In the city, the light from the lanterns and windows of buildings is so strong that all the most interesting things in the night sky turns out to be hidden, therefore, to see these amazing things, you should go out of town.

light pollution

brightest planet

Very hot neighbor of the Earth - Venus can rightfully be proud of the title the brightest planet in the sky. The brightness of the planet is due to highly reflective clouds, as well as the fact that it is close to the Earth. Venus approximately 6 times brighter than other neighbors of the Earth - Mars and Jupiter.

Venus is brighter than any other object in the night sky, with the exception of the Moon, of course. Its maximum visible value is around 5. For comparison: the apparent magnitude of the full moon is -13 , that is, it is approximately 1600 times brighter than Venus.

In February 2012, a unique conjunction of three of the brightest objects in the night sky was observed: Venus, Jupiter and Moon which could be seen just after sunset.

The largest star

The largest star known to science - VY Canis Major, a type M red hypergiant, which is located at a distance of approximately 3800 light years from Earth in the constellation Canis Major.

Scientists have estimated that VY Canis Majoris could be more than 2100 times the size of the Sun. If it is placed in the solar system, then the edges of this monster will be located approximately in the orbit of Saturn.

The surface of a hypergiant can hardly be called noticeably outlined, since this star is approximately 1000 times less dense than our planet's atmosphere at sea level.

VY Canis Major is the source a lot of controversy in the scientific world, since the assessment of its size goes beyond the boundaries of the current stellar theory. Astronomers believe that the star VY Canis Majoris during the next 100 thousand years explode and die, turning into a "hypernova" and releasing an enormous amount of energy, and this energy will be more than any other supernova.

brightest star

In 1997, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope found that the brightest known star is a star at a distance 25 thousand light years from us. This star highlights 10 million times more energy than the sun. In size, this star is also much larger than our star. If you place it in the center of the solar system, it will take the orbit of the Earth.

Scientists have suggested that this large star, located in the region of the constellation Sagittarius, creates a cloud of gas around it, which is called Nebula "Pistol". Thanks to this nebula, the star also received the name Pistol Star.

Unfortunately, this amazing star is not visible from Earth due to the fact that it is hidden by the dust clouds of the Milky Way. The brightest star in the night sky can you name a star? Sirius located in the constellation Canis Major. The magnitude of Sirius is -1,44.

You can observe Sirius from anywhere on Earth, except for the northern regions. The brightness of a star is explained not only by its high luminosity, but at a relatively close distance. Sirius is located approximately at 8.6 light years from the solar system.

The most beautiful star in the sky

Many stars are known for their brilliance of different colors, for example, a system consisting of blue and orange stars. Albireo, or bright red giant star Antares. However, the most beautiful of all the stars visible to the naked eye can be called a red-orange star. Mu Cephei, which is also called "Herschel's garnet star" after its first explorer, the British astronomer William Herschel.

The red giant Mu Cephei is located in the constellation Cepheus. This is pulsating variable star and its maximum brightness changes 3.7 to 5.0. The color of the star also changes. Most of the time, Mu Cephei is a rich orange-red, but sometimes it takes on a strange purple hue.

Although Mu Cephei is a little dim, its reddish tint can be seen even with the naked eye, and if you take a simple binoculars, the spectacle will be more impressive.

The most distant space object

The farthest object visible to the naked eye is andromeda galaxy, which includes about 400 billion stars and which was noticed back in the 10th century by the ancient Persian astronomer Al Sufi. He described this object as "a small cloud".

Even if armed with binoculars or an amateur telescope, Andromeda will still look like slightly elongated blurry spot. But still, it is very impressive, especially if you know that the light from it gets to us. for 2.5 million years!

By the way, the Andromeda galaxy is approaching our Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers have estimated that these two galaxies will collide at about in 4 billion years, and Andromeda will be visible as a bright disk in the night sky. However, it is not yet known whether those who wish to look at the sky will remain on Earth after so many years.

The starry sky has always attracted people. Even being at a low stage of development, dressing in animal skins and using stone tools, a person already raised his head and examined the mysterious points that shimmered mysteriously in the depths of the vast sky.

The stars have become one of the foundations of human mythology. According to ancient people, it was there that the gods lived. The stars have always been something sacred for a person, unattainable for an ordinary mortal. One of the most ancient sciences of mankind was astrology, which studied the influence of heavenly bodies on human life.

Today, the stars remain the focus of our attention, but it is true that astronomers study them more, and science fiction writers invent stories about the time when a person will be able to reach the stars. An ordinary person often raises his head to admire the beautiful stars in the night sky, just like his distant ancestors did millions of years ago. We have compiled a list for you that includes the brightest stars in the sky.

In tenth place on our list is Betelgeuse, astronomers call it α Orionis. This star is a great mystery to astronomers: they are still arguing about its origin and cannot understand its periodic variability.

This star belongs to the class of red giants and its size is 500-800 times the size of our Sun. If we were to move it into our system, then its boundaries would extend to the orbit of Jupiter. Over the past 15 years, the size of this star has decreased by 15%. Scientists still do not understand the reason for this phenomenon.

Betelgeuse is located at a distance of 570 light-years from the Sun, so a trip to it will definitely not take place in the near future.

The first star in this constellation, it ranks ninth on our list. the brightest stars in the night sky. Achernar is located at the very end of the constellation Eridani. This star is classified as a class of blue stars, it is eight times heavier than our Sun and exceeds it in brightness by a thousand times.

Achernar is 144 light-years from our solar system, and travel to it in the near future also looks unlikely. Another interesting feature of this star is that it rotates around its axis with great speed.

This star is the eighth by its brightness in our firmament. The name of this star is translated from Greek as "before the dog." Procyon enters the winter triangle, along with the stars Sirius and Betelgeuse.

This star is a binary star. In the sky, we can see the larger star of the pair, the second star is a small white dwarf.

There is a legend associated with this star. The constellation Canis Minor symbolizes the dog of the first winemaker, Ikaria, who was killed by treacherous shepherds, after having drunk his own wine beforehand. The faithful dog found the owner's grave.

This star is seventh brightest in our sky. The main reason for the rather low place in our ranking is the very large distance between the Earth and this star. If Rigel were a little closer (at the distance of Sirius, for example), then in its brightness it would surpass many other luminaries.

Rigel belongs to the class of blue-white supergiants. The size of this star is impressive: it is 74 times larger than our Sun. In fact, Rigel is not one star, but three: in addition to the giant, this stellar company includes two more small stars.

Rigel is located at a distance of 870 light years from the Sun, which is a lot.

Translated from Arabic, the name of this star means "leg". People have known this star for a very long time, it was included in the mythology of many peoples, starting with the ancient Egyptians. They considered Rigel to be the incarnation of Osiris, one of the most powerful gods in their pantheon.

One of the most beautiful stars in our sky. This is a double star, which in ancient times was an independent constellation and symbolized a goat with kids. Capella is a double star that consists of two yellow giants that revolve around a common center. Each of these stars is 2.5 times heavier than our Sun and they are located at a distance of 42 light years from our planetary system. These stars are much brighter than our sun.

An ancient Greek legend is associated with the Chapel, according to which Zeus was fed by the goat Amalthea. One day, Zeus carelessly broke off one of the animal's horns, and so a cornucopia appeared in the world.

One of the brightest and most beautiful stars in our sky. It is located at a distance of 25 light years from our Sun (which is a fairly small distance). Vega belongs to the constellation Lyra, the size of this star is almost three times the size of our Sun.

This star rotates around its axis at breakneck speed.

Vega can be called one of the most studied stars. It is located at a short distance and is very convenient for research.

Many myths of different peoples of our planet are associated with this star. In our latitudes, Vega is one of the brightest stars in the sky and second only to Sirius and Arcturus.

One of the brightest and most beautiful stars in the sky which can be observed anywhere in the world. The reasons for this brightness is the large size of the star and the small distance from it to our planet.

Arcturus belongs to the class of red giants and has a huge size. The distance from our solar system to this star is "only" 36.7 light years. It is more than 25 times larger than our star. At the same time, the brightness of Arcturus is 110 times higher than the Sun.

This star owes its name to the constellation Ursa Major. Translated from Greek, its name means "guardian of the bear." Arcturus is very easy in the starry sky, you just need to draw an imaginary arc through the handle of the Big Dipper bucket.

In second place on our list is a triple star, which belongs to the constellation Centaurus. This star system consists of three stars: two of them are close in size to our Sun and the third star, which is a red dwarf called Proxima Centauri.

Astronomers call the double star that we can see with the naked eye Toliban. These stars are very close to our planetary system, and therefore seem very bright to us. In fact, their brightness and size are quite modest. The distance from the Sun to these stars is only 4.36 light years. By astronomical standards, it's almost there. Proxima Centauri was discovered only in 1915, it behaves rather strangely, its brightness changes periodically.

This is the second brightest star in our sky. But, unfortunately, we will not be able to see it, because Canopus is visible only in the southern hemisphere of our planet. In the northern part, it is visible only in tropical latitudes.

This is the brightest star in the southern hemisphere, in addition, it performs the same role in navigation as the North Star in the northern hemisphere.

Canopus is a huge star, which is eight times larger than our luminary. This star belongs to the class of supergiants, and it is in second place in terms of brightness only because the distance to it is very large. The distance from the Sun to Canopus is about 319 light years. Canopus is the brightest star within a radius of 700 light years.

There is no consensus on the origin of the name of the star. Most likely, it got its name in honor of the helmsman who was on the ship of Menelaus (this is a character in the Greek epic about the Trojan War).

The brightest star in our sky, which belongs to the constellation Canis Major. This star can be called the most important for earthlings, of course, after our Sun. Since ancient times, people have been very reverent and respectful of this luminary. There are numerous myths and legends about him. The ancient Egyptians placed their gods on Sirius. This star can be observed from anywhere on the earth's surface.

The ancient Sumerians watched Sirius and believed that it was on it that the gods who created life on our planet are located. The Egyptians watched this star very carefully, it was associated with their religious cults of Osiris and Isis. In addition, according to Sirius, they determined the time of the Nile flood, which was important for agriculture.

If we talk about Sirius from the point of view of astronomy, then it should be noted that this is a double star, which consists of a star of spectral class A1 and a white dwarf (Sirius B). You cannot see the second star with the naked eye. Both stars revolve around a single center with a period of 50 years. Sirius A is about twice the size of our Sun.

Sirius is 8.6 light years away from us.

The ancient Greeks believed that Sirius was the dog of the star hunter Orion, who pursued his prey. There is an African Dogon tribe that worships Sirius. But that's not surprising. Africans, who did not know writing, had information about the existence of Sirius B, which was discovered only in the middle of the 19th century with the help of fairly advanced telescopes. The Dogon calendar is based on the periods of rotation of Sirius B around Sirius A. And it is compiled quite accurately. How a primitive African tribe got all this information is a mystery.

Astronomy

• 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

When you imagine the night sky, you most likely think of thousands of stars twinkling on a black blanket of night, something that can only truly be seen far from cities and other sources of light pollution.

But those of us who can't watch such a spectacle on a periodic basis are overlooking 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% larger 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 is 860 light years away, and at a temperature of just 12,000 degrees, Rigel is not a main sequence star - it is 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!