There must be a lot of astronomy facts right? Consider that there are somewhere around 1 x 10 ^22 stars in the universe, that’s a one followed by 22 zeros. Then consider that many of those stars have planets surrounding them. Now think about all the moons that orbit the planets, and the comets, and the asteroids, and everything else in the universe. That’s a lot of data and facts and figures. This short discussion won’t cover everything. But it will be a lot of fun.
Let’s take a look at this subset of astronomy facts – the brightest stars as seen from Earth. Let’s ignore the sun, it’s too close. It’s so bright as seen from Earth that it washes out all the other stars in the sky during a phenomenon called “daylight.” In a the brightness scale we’ll use, lower numbers are brighter. The son is approximately 26.73, with the full moon weighing in at -12.6. All righty then, here’s the top five list.
#5 is Vega, which means eagle or vulture in Arabic. As seen from Earth its magnitude is .03. Overall, for this discussion of astronomy facts, the truly brightest star may not appear to be so from her. The Sun is not the largest or brightest star in the universe or even the galaxy, yet it appears so bright because it is so near compared to other stars.
#4 is Rigel Kentaurus, that’s Arabic for foot of the centaur. It sits about 4 light-years from Earth and has a magnitude of -.01.
At #3, by the known astronomy facts is Arcturus. The name means guardian of the bear in Greek. Arcturus is 37 light-years from Earth.
#2 is Canopus. Of these top five Canopus, a Greek name for the pilot of the vessel Argo made famous in the stories about Jason and the Argonauts, is the brightest. However, it’s 313 light-years away from Earth, so it looks second brightest as seen from this planet. It has a -.62 magnitude as seen by humans on this planet.
#1 is Sirius, meaning scorching in Greek. Because it’s the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major, it’s also called the Dog Star.. At only 9 light-years away from Earth it is the second closest in these top five. It’s appears to be the brightest star in the sky, with a magnitude of -1.44.
Astronomy facts go way beyond this. But it’s something to consider next time you look into the sky.
