The brightest stars in the night sky
The top 3 according to 0 votes from people: Sirius · Canopus · Alpha Centauri. (Updated Nov 5, 2021.)
The top 19 stars of the night sky by brightness as seen from Earth (apparent magnitude), from Wikipedia's list. Distances in light years.
Automatically translated (original in 日本語). See the original
Top 15
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1
Sirius
Alpha Canis Majoris. Apparent magnitude −1.46, 8.6 light years away. The brightest star in the night sky after the Sun.
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2
Canopus
Alpha Carinae. Apparent magnitude −0.74, 310 light years away. From Japan it only appears low on the southern horizon.
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3
Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri. Apparent magnitude −0.27, 4.34 light years away. The closest star system to the Solar System.
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4
Arcturus
Alpha Boötis. Apparent magnitude −0.05, 37 light years away. The brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere.
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5
Vega
Alpha Lyrae. Apparent magnitude 0.03, 25 light years away. The weaver star of the Tanabata festival.
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6
Capella
Alpha Aurigae. Apparent magnitude 0.08, 43 light years away.
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7
Rigel
Beta Orionis. Apparent magnitude 0.13, 860 light years away. The blue-white supergiant of Orion.
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8
Procyon
Alpha Canis Minoris. Apparent magnitude 0.34, 11 light years away. Part of the Winter Triangle.
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9
Achernar
Alpha Eridani. Apparent magnitude 0.46, 140 light years away.
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10
Betelgeuse
Alpha Orionis. Apparent magnitude 0.50 (variable), 640 light years away. A red supergiant whose brightness varies a lot (0.0 to 1.6).
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11
Hadar
Beta Centauri. Apparent magnitude 0.61, 390 light years away.
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12
Altair
Alpha Aquilae. Apparent magnitude 0.76, 17 light years away. The cowherd star of Tanabata, part of the Summer Triangle.
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13
Acrux
Alpha Crucis. Apparent magnitude 0.76, 320 light years away. The brightest star of the Southern Cross.
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14
Aldebaran
Alpha Tauri. Apparent magnitude 0.86, 65 light years away. The red eye of Taurus.
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15
Antares
Alpha Scorpii. Apparent magnitude 0.96, 550 light years away. The red heart of the Scorpion.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 15… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
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16
Spica
Alpha Virginis. Apparent magnitude 0.97, 250 light years away.
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17
Pollux
Beta Geminorum. Apparent magnitude 1.14, 34 light years away.
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18
Fomalhaut
Alpha Piscis Austrini. Apparent magnitude 1.16, 25 light years away. The lone bright star of the southern autumn sky.
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19
Deneb
Alpha Cygni. Apparent magnitude 1.25, 2,600 light years away. Part of the Summer Triangle; a very distant supergiant.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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Comments (7)
リゲルの青白い光が好き。
シリウスは冬の夜空で一番明るいですね。
ベテルギウスの爆発、生きてるうちに見たい！
カノープスは日本だと南の地平線ぎりぎり、見えたら長生きするって言われてます。
ケンタウルス座α星は日本からは見えないのが残念。
夏の大三角形のベガとアルタイル、七夕の織姫と彦星。
星座アプリで探しながら見ると楽しい🔭