The least bright star. Which star is the brightest in the sky?

Currently, the brightest star that can be seen in the earth's sky (besides, of course, the Sun) is Sirius. Its apparent magnitude is -1.46. The fact that Sirius is the brightest star in our sky is largely due to its proximity - a star 8.6 light years away from us has a mass of two and a luminosity of twenty-two solar, while in our galaxy there are stars whose luminosity exceeds the solar millions of times. Another thing is that they are much, much further than Sirius.
As you know, the Sun revolves around the center of the Milky Way, making one revolution in about 225 million years. During this drift, some stars approach the solar system, some move away - so over thousands of years, the pattern of the starry sky gradually changes, and visible stars can become both brighter and dimmer.

So, during the Pliocene, the brightest star in the sky was Adara. Now this blue-white giant is located at a distance of 430 light years from us and has an apparent magnitude of +1.51. But 4.7 million years ago, Adara passed from the solar system at a distance of only 34 light years. Considering that the star's luminosity is 20,000 times greater than that of the Sun, at that time it sparkled in the night sky almost as brightly as Venus, having an apparent magnitude of -3.99.

After 300,000 years, Adara was replaced by another bright blue giant, Myrtsam. The star passed at a distance of 37 light years from the Solar System and at that time had an apparent magnitude of -3.65. Since then, Mirtsam has moved away from us to a distance of 500 light years and dimmed to a magnitude of +1.95. Over the next four million years, the brightest stars in the earth's sky were Zeta Hare, Askella, Aldebaran, Capella and three times Canopus. None of these stars could compare in brightness with Adara and Myrtsam - the brightest among them was Askella, which 1.2 million years ago had an apparent magnitude of -2.74.

Of course, Sirius will also not always be the brightest star in the earth's sky. In about 60 thousand years, it will approach the Solar System at a minimum distance of 7.8 light years, reaching a maximum apparent magnitude of -1.64, after which it will begin to gradually move away. In 150 thousand years, Vega will receive the title of the brightest star in our sky. Its maximum apparent magnitude will be -0.8.

In another 270 thousand years, Canopus will become the brightest star in the night sky. The funny thing is that by that time it will be at a distance of 350 light years from us and have an apparent magnitude of only -0.4, while now these figures are 310 light years and -0.72, respectively. But the fact is that by that time other large stars will move away from us to an even greater distance.

After Canopus, the brightest stars in Earth's sky will be Beta Aurigae and Delta Scuti. The latter will surpass Sirius in brightness for some time, reaching an apparent magnitude of -1.8. This will happen in about 1.25 million years.

>The brightest star

Sirius is the brightest star in the modern Universe: history of bright stars in the past, Arcturus, Vega, Rigel, Deneb, influence of the movement of the Solar system in the galaxy.

For all residents below 83 degrees north latitude the brightest star The visible Universe is Sirius. It reaches 1st magnitude and is the fifth brightest celestial object. But was he always the brightest star?

The brightest star in the modern Universe

Of course, in first place in terms of brightness is . The star is 8.6 light years away and played a vital role for the ancient Egyptians, who based their calendar on it.

Interesting: The brightest star north of the celestial equator is , whose magnitude reaches -0.04.

Now keep this in mind, since it was she who got the title of the brightest star in the sky 200,000 years ago.

Where do such changes in the brightness rating of stellar celestial bodies come from? It's all about constant movement. Our solar system travels at a speed of 250 km/s. A full passage takes 250 million years. It turns out that in 4.5 billion years of existence we have completed only 18 orbital galactic flybys.

In addition, the Solar System also oscillates relative to the galactic plane (up and down). This takes another 93 million years. The stars move at the same time as us. In the video you can follow the movement of stars in the constellation Ursa Major.

Movement of the Big Dipper

All these movements are carried out quite chaotically and take long periods of time. Modern Sirius and Alpha Centauri are considered “the brightest stars in the Universe” because they are located close together. But there are also those who are distant, but still act as the brightest representatives.

Such differences are called apparent magnitude. She is connected with the earthly observer. Therefore, scientists turn to a more accurate indicator - the absolute value (brightness at a distance of 10 parsecs). Send Deneb this distance and its magnitude becomes -8.4. Study the list of the brightest stars in the sky from the perspective of an earthly observer.

List of the brightest stars in the Universe visible from Earth

By human standards of life, all stars and constellations look the same. It’s just that they don’t have time to change over a period of 80-100 years. But if you lived for centuries, you would notice how they slowly shift - the correct movement. For example, Barnard's Star and 61 Cygni move at 10 and 3.2 arcseconds per year. But proper motion measures speed relative to our line of sight.

The brightest star in the Universe in the past

Radial movement reveals the secrets of leadership in past centuries. Light disappears with the inverse square of the distance. Take a burning candle and move it further. The light will remain the same, but it will not seem as bright to you.

We are now moving towards the solar apex point near the star Omicron Hercules at a speed of 16.5 km/s. But you can rewind the path back. For example, a Delta Scuti magnitude of 2.4 would increase to -1.8, exceeding the brightness of modern Sirius. And 4.7 million years BC. the star Hadara reached magnitude -4 instead of the modern 1.5.

Arcturus is currently diving through our galactic neighborhood at a rate of 2 arcseconds per year. It is very close to its maximum brightness (a process that takes 4,000 years) and will gradually begin to fade from view.

The brightest star in the Universe in the future

Get ready for the star Albireo to close its distance by 300 light years and reach a magnitude of -0.5. Future scientists will finally be able to find out whether it is a double pair or not.

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Many people in November wonder: what bright star is visible in the east in the morning? She really very bright: other stars pale in comparison with her. It is still easily distinguishable even when here, in the southeast, dawn is already in full swing, washing away other stars from the sky. And then almost until sunrise this star remains completely alone.

I want to congratulate you - you are observing the planet Venus, the brightest luminary in our sky after the Sun and Moon!

Venus is only visible in the morning or evening sky- you will never see her late at night in the south. Her time is the predawn or twilight evening hours, when she literally reigns in the sky.

Check yourself if you are really observing Venus.

• • In November and December 2018 Venus is visible in the east in the morning, rising 4 hours before sunrise. It is visible for two hours in the dark sky, and for another hour against the background of the morning dawn.
  • Venus color white, near the horizon may be slightly yellowish.
  • Venus does not flicker that is, it does not blink, does not tremble, but shines powerfully, evenly and calmly.
  • Venus is so bright that it no longer looks like a star, but like the spotlight of an airplane flying towards it. It has long been noted that the bright white light of the planet is capable of cast clear shadows on the snow; The easiest way to check this is outside the city on a moonless night, where the light of Venus is not interfered with by street lights. By the way, according to Russian astronomers, about 30% of reports of UFOs in our country occur on rising or setting Venus.

Venus against the background of the morning dawn is still bright and noticeable, although at this time the stars are practically no longer visible. Pattern: stellarium

In November 2018 - slightly to the right of the planet. Please note: Spica is one of the twenty brightest stars in the entire sky, but next to Venus it simply fades! Another bright star, Arcturus, is located above and to the left of Spica. Arcturus has a characteristic reddish color. So, Venus is much brighter than Arcturus and even more so Spica!

Watch these luminaries for a few minutes and compare their appearance with Venus. Notice how much brighter stars twinkle than Venus. Spica can even shimmer in different colors! Also try to remember the brightness of Venus in comparison with the brightest stars - and you will never confuse it with anything else.

Few things can compare in beauty to Venus in the sky! The planet looks especially beautiful against the background of the flaring dawn. Beautiful celestial pictures are obtained when the crescent Moon is near Venus. The next such meeting will take place on the morning of December 3 and 4, 2018. Do not miss!

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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. Although this work has not survived to this day, it is assumed that Hipparchus's list included about 850 stars (Subsequently, in the second century AD, Hipparchus's catalog was expanded to 1022 stars thanks to the efforts of another Greek astronomer, Ptolemy. Hipparchus included in his list of stars that could be distinguished in each constellation known at that time, he carefully described the location of each celestial body, and also sorted them on a brightness scale - from 1 to 6, where 1 meant the maximum possible brightness (or “stellar magnitude”) .

This method of measuring brightness is still used today. It is worth noting that in the time of Hipparchus there were no telescopes yet, therefore, looking at the sky with the naked eye, the ancient astronomer could only distinguish stars of the 6th magnitude (the least luminous) by their 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 capable of distinguishing objects of magnitude up to 31m.

Apparent magnitude - what is it?

With the advent of more precise light-measuring instruments, astronomers have decided to use decimal fractions—for example, 2.75m—to denote magnitudes rather than simply roughly indicating the magnitude as 2 or 3.
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 shining 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.

Typically, 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 as seen from Earth, without taking into account the presence of an atmosphere that affects the view.

Absolute 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 distance 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 candle flame remained the same all the time.

Based on this fact, astronomers have found a new way to measure the brightness of a star, which was 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.

The absolute magnitude is usually indicated with a capital letter M, for example 2.75M. This method measures the star's actual luminosity, without corrections 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 summer began - the “dog days” season.

However, today Sirius is no longer a signal for the beginning of the hottest part of summer, and all because the Earth, over a cycle of 25 thousand 800 years, slowly oscillates around its axis. What causes changes in the position of stars in the night sky.

Sirius is 23 times brighter than our Sun, but at the same time its diameter and mass exceed our celestial body only twice. Note that the distance to the Dog Star is relatively small by cosmic standards, 8.5 light years; it is this fact that largely determines the brightness of this star - it is the 5th closest star to our Sun.

In 1844, German astronomer Friedrich Besse noticed a wobble in Sirius 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, and 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 consumed. Astronomers have calculated that Sirius's companion - named Sirius B - has the mass of our Sun packed into the size of our Earth.

Sixteen milliliters of the substance Sirius B (B is the 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 best time to observe Sirius is winter (for observers in 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 belt stars. Draw a line from the leftmost star of Orion's belt with an inclination of 20 degrees in the direction of the southeast. You can use your own fist as an assistant, which at arm's length covers about 10 degrees of the sky, so you will need about two times the width of your fist.

2. Canopus / Canopus

Canopus is the brightest star in the constellation Carina, and the second brightest, after Sirius, in Earth's night sky. The constellation Carina is relatively new (by astronomical standards), and one of three constellations that were once part of the huge constellation Argo Navis, named after the odyssey of Jason and the Argonauts who fearlessly set out in search of the Golden Fleece. The other two constellations form the sails (constellation Vela) and the stern (constellation Puppis).

Nowadays, spacecraft use light from Canopus as a guide in outer space - a prime example of this is the Soviet interplanetary stations and Voyager 2.

Canopus contains truly incredible power. It is not as close to us as Sirius, but it is 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! Moreover, Canopus is located 316 light years from the Sun, which is 37 times further than the brightest star in our night sky, Sirius.

Canopus is a yellow-white class F super giant star - a star with temperatures between 5500 and 7800 degrees Celsius. It has already exhausted all its hydrogen reserves, and is now processing its helium core into carbon. This helped the star “grow”: Canopus is 65 times larger than the Sun. If we replaced the Sun with Canopus, this yellow-white giant would devour 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 carbon-oxygen cores are most common, Canopus is so massive that it can begin to process its carbon into neon and oxygen as it morphs into a smaller, cooler, denser object.

How to find Canopus: With an apparent magnitude of -0.72m, Canopus is fairly easy to find 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 approximately 40 degrees north of the brightest star in our night sky.

3. Alpha Centauri / Alpha Centauri

The star Alpha Centauri (also known as Rigel Centaurus) is actually made up of three stars bound together by gravity. The two main (read: more massive) stars are Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, while the smallest star in the system, a red dwarf, is called Alpha Centauri C.

The Alpha Centauri system is interesting to us primarily for its proximity: located 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 Centauri A can even be called a twin star (both luminaries belong to the yellow G-class stars). In terms of luminosity, Centauri A is 1.5 times greater than the luminosity of the Sun, while its apparent magnitude is 0.01m. As for Centaurus B, its luminosity is half that of its brighter companion, Centaurus A, and its apparent magnitude is 1.3m. The luminosity of the red dwarf, Centauri 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 starry sky at a magnitude of -0.27m. True, it is best to observe this unusual three-star system in the southern hemisphere of the Earth, starting from 28 degrees north latitude and further south.

Even with a small telescope you can see the two brightest stars of the Alpha Centauri system.

How to find Alpha Centauri: Alpha Centauri is located at the very bottom of the Centaurus constellation. Also, 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 of our ranking are mainly 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 is brighter than the brightest star of the Alpha Centauri system, Centauri A (-0.05m versus -0.01m).

Arcturus, also known as the “Guardian of the Ursa,” is an integral satellite of the constellation Ursa Major, and is very clearly visible in the northern hemisphere of the Earth (in Russia it is visible almost everywhere). The name Arcturus comes 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 the luminosity of the “Ursa Guardian” is 215 times greater than our daylight star. 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 “Ursa Guard” is -0.04m.

It is noteworthy that Arcturus is in the final stages of his stellar life. Due to the constant battle between gravity and pressure from the star, the Guardian Dipper is now 25 times the diameter of our Sun.

Ultimately, the outer layer of Arcturus will disintegrate and transform into the form of a planetary nebula, similar to the well-known Ring Nebula (M57) in the constellation Lyra. After this, 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. To do this, after you find Arcturus, you simply need to continue the Big Dipper arc further.

How to find Arcturus: Arcturus is the alpha (i.e. the brightest star) of the spring constellation Bootes. To find the “Ursa Guardian,” you just need to first find the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) and mentally continue the arc of its handle until you come across a bright orange star. This will be Arcturus, a star that forms, within 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 Lyra constellation, which is also home to the equally famous Ring Nebula (M57) and the star Epsilon Lyrae.

The Ring Nebula is a glowing 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 it 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 called a “double double” star.

Vega is a hydrogen-burning dwarf star, 54 times brighter than our Sun, while its mass is only 1.5 times greater. 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 Earth). By the standards of the Solar System, the outskirts of such a disk would end approximately at the boundaries 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 discovered “holes” in the disk of gas surrounding Vega, which could reasonably indicate that planets have already formed around this star. This discovery attracted 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 such contacts have never been recorded in real life.

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, and an astronomer from Harvard University acted as a photographer. Note that stars dimmer than the 2nd apparent magnitude were generally not accessible 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 will not be difficult. The easiest way to find Vega is to initially search for the Summer Triangle asterism. 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 is formed by Vega, the upper left by Deneb, and Altair shines below.

6. Capella / Capella

Capella is the brightest star in the constellation Auriga, the sixth brightest in the Earth's night sky. If we talk about the northern hemisphere, then Capella occupies an honorable third place among the brightest stars.

Today it is known that Capella is an incredible system of 4 stars: 2 stars are similar yellow G-class giants, the second pair are much dimmer red dwarf stars. The brighter of the two, the yellow giant, named Aa, is 80 times brighter and almost three times more massive than our star. The fainter 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, they will be 130 times more powerful than our Sun.

The Capella system is located 42 light years away from us, and its apparent magnitude is 0.08m.

If you are at 44 degrees north latitude (Pyatigorsk, Russia) or even further north, you will be able to observe Capella throughout the night: at these latitudes it never goes beyond the horizon.

Both yellow giants are in the final stages of their lives, and very soon (by cosmic standards) will turn into a pair of white dwarfs.

How to find Capella: 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 Orion constellation, the inimitable star Rigel shines royally. 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 whose luminous power is 40 thousand times greater 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 well-recognized constellations (only the Big Dipper constellation is more popular), since Orion is very easily identified 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 on the edges depict his arms and legs.

If you observe Rigel through a telescope, you can notice its second companion star, whose apparent magnitude is only 7m.

The mass of Rigel is 17 times greater than 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 incredible light from its explosion. However, it could also happen that Rigel could 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 continue to be born here.

How to find Rigel: First, you should find the constellation Orion (in Russia it is observed throughout the entire territory). The star Rigel will shine brightly in the lower left corner of the constellation.

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 one, 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 the harbinger of the appearance of Sirius, which is also called the “Dog Star”.

Procyon is a yellow-white star with a luminosity 7 times greater than the Sun, while in dimensions it is only twice as large as our star. As with Alpha Centauri, Procyon shines so brightly in our night sky due to its proximity to the Sun - 11.4 light years separate our star from the distant star.

Procyon is at the end of its life cycle: now the star is actively processing the remaining hydrogen into helium. This star is now twice the diameter of our Sun, making it one of the brightest celestial bodies in Earth's night sky at a distance of 20 light years.

It is worth noting that Procyon, together with Betelgeuse and Sirius, forms a well-known and recognizable asterism, the Winter Triangle.

A white dwarf star revolves around Procyon, which was visually discovered in 1896 by the German astronomer John Schieber. At the same time, speculation about the existence of a companion in Procyon was put forward back in 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 fainter companion, called Procyon B, is three times the size of Earth and has 60% the mass of the Sun. The brighter star of 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 western direction, you will certainly stumble upon Procyon.

9. Achernar / Achernar

Achernar, translated from Arabic, means “end of the river,” which is quite natural: this star is the southernmost point of the constellation named after 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: it is approximately 3,150 times brighter than our Sun. With an apparent magnitude of 0.45m, light from Achernar takes 144 Earth years to reach our planet.

Achernar is quite close in apparent magnitude to the star Betelgeuse (number 10 in our ranking). However, Achernar is usually placed in 9th place in rankings of the brightest stars, since Betelgeuse is a variable star, whose apparent magnitude can fall from 0.5m to 1.2m, as it did in 1927 and 1941.

Achernar is a massive class B star, weighing eight times more than our Sun. It is now 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: Unfortunately, this star is not visible on Russian territory. In general, to view Achernar comfortably, you need to be south of 25 degrees 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

Don't think that Betelgeuse's importance is as low as its position in our ranking. The distance of 430 light years hides from us the true scale of the supergiant 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 means "hunter's armpit" in Arabic.

Betelgeuse marks the eastern shoulder of mighty Orion from the constellation of the same name. Also, Betelgeuse is also called Alpha Orionis, which means that in theory it should be the brightest star in its constellation. However, in fact, the brightest star in the Orion constellation is the star Rigel. This oversight most likely resulted from the fact that Betelgeuse is a variable star (a star that changes its brightness over periods). Therefore, it is likely that at the time when Johannes Bayer assessed the brightness of these two stars, Betelgeuse was shining brighter than Rigel.

The star Betelgeuse is a red supergiant of the M1 class, its diameter is 650 times greater than the diameter of our Sun, while its mass 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!

Once you begin observing Betelgeuse, you will see the star at the end of its long life. Its enormous mass suggests that it most likely converts all its elements into iron. If this is so, then in the near future (by cosmic standards) Betelgeuse will explode and turn into a supernova, and the explosion will be so bright that the power of the glow can be compared with the glow of the crescent moon visible from Earth. The birth of a supernova will leave behind a dense neutron star. Another theory suggests that Betelgeuse could evolve into a rare type of neon-oxygen dwarf star.

How to find Betelgeuse: First, you should find the constellation Orion (in Russia it is observed throughout the entire territory). The star Betelgeuse will shine brightly in the upper right corner of the constellation.