What are the brightest stars in the sky?

The brightest star in the sky is of course the Sun, the closest to us (150 million km, or 8 light minutes) and the one around which the Earth turned. But outside ofstar solar, which has become so familiar that we almost forget to include it in the classification of stars the brightest, which are the most irradiated in the sky?

Sirius "the fiery one", the brightest star in the sky

Boreal and southern sky combined, it's Sirius who is on the first step of the podium. Impossible to miss it on a beautiful eveningwinter, it sparkles with all colors above the southern horizon, in the constellation from the Grand Dog ((Canis Majoris). Above her, the Orion hunter whom she accompanies. His Greek name Seiros means "burning" or "ardent". Indeed, in antiquity, its sunrise (before sunrise) coincided with the summer solstice, the hottest days of the year in Egypt and when the Nile was in flood. Very important for the ancient Egyptians, the star, associated with the goddess Isis, also marked the start of the year. Word " heat wave "Comes from latin canicula ("Little dog") in resonancewith the presence of the star during periods of heavy heat .

The sparkling Sirius displays a apparent magnitudefrom -1.46. Only 8.6 away light years, it is the fifth closest star to ourSolar system . Alpha Canis Majoris (α Canis Majoris) is a double star. But his companion is indistinguishable from eye bare. With twice the massfrom the Sun, Sirius A dominates. Sirius B, on the other hand, is awhite dwarf, the rest of a Sun – the first to be discovered.

The second brightest star in the sky

Canopus is the second brightest star in the sky. Its apparent magnitude is -0.72. It is located about 36 ° south of Sirius, within the constellation Carina. To see it, in the northern hemisphere, you must be within 37 ° oflatitude . The star was worshiped by the ancient Egyptians.

A yellow-white supergiant star about 310 light years away, Canopus is 65 times larger than our Sun (at the center of the Solar System, it would extend to three-quarters of the Sun-Mercury distance) and 15,000 times brighter than him (if we could see it up close).

The 10 brightest stars in the sky

Here are the 10 brightest stars in the sky – apart from the Sun -, the constellations to which they belong, their apparent magnitude and their distance from the Earth.

• Sirius. Constellation: Large Dog (especially visible at night in winter); distance: 8.6 light years; apparent magnitude: -1.46.
• Canopus. Constellation: Carina; distance: 310 light years; apparent magnitude: -0.72.
• Arcturus. Constellation: Bouvier (especially visible in the evening in summer); distance: 36 light years; apparent magnitude: -0.04.
• Centaur Alpha(more precisely Alpha Centauri A). Constellation: Centaur; distance: 4.3 light years; apparent magnitude: -0.01.
• Vegeta. Constellation: Lyre (especially visible in the evening in summer); distance: 25 light years; apparent magnitude: +0.03.
• Rigel. Constellation: Orion (especially visible in the evening in winter); distance: 630 light years; apparent magnitude: + 0.12.
• Procyon. Constellation: Small Dog (especially visible in the evening in winter); distance: 11 light years; apparent magnitude: +0.38.
• Achernar. Constellation: Eridan; distance: 139 light years; apparent magnitude: +0.54.
• Betelgeuse . Constellation: Orion (especially visible in the evening in winter); distance: 500 light years; apparent magnitude: +0.56.
• Hadar. Constellation: Centaur; distance: 390 light years; apparent magnitude: +0.63.