The brightest stars can be very bright but quite far away, and also very close even though they are not as bright. We review the 10 brightest in our night sky (not counting the Sun, of course):
Sirius
Sirius is 8.6 light years distant from Earth. It has a magnitude of -1.47 and is therefore the brightest star in the night sky as seen from our planet. It is located in the constellation of the southern celestial hemisphere Canis Maior. It has a surface temperature of 9,726 ° C.
Canopus
Canopus is 310 light years distant from Earth. It has a magnitude of -0.72 and is the second brightest star in our sky. It is located in the constellation of Carina, La Quilla. Its color is yellowish white and its surface temperature is 7,000 ºC.
Arthur
The third brightest star in the sky is Arturo. It is only 36 light years distant from Earth and has a magnitude of -0.05. We can locate Arturo in the constellation of Bootes, the Boyero. Its surface temperature is 4,016 ºC.
Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri is only 4.3 light years distant from Earth . It is a star system made up of three stars, Rigil Kentaurus, Toliman, and Proxima Centauri. Rigil Kentaurus A is a yellow star very similar to the Sun and the fourth brightest in our sky. Its magnitude is +0.01.
Vega
The star Vega is 25 light years distant from our planet. It is the fifth brightest star in the sky as seen from Earth and has a magnitude of +0.03. It is located in the constellation of the Lyre. Many years ago, around 12,000 BC, Vega was the pole star (and will be again in AD 14,720).
Rígel
The star Rígel is 770 light years distant from Earth . It has a magnitude of +0.12 and we can locate it in the constellation Orion (on the left foot of the figure of the hunter if we look at the stars that make up the famous constellation). It is the sixth brightest star in our sky. Its surface temperature is 11,226 ºC.
Procyon
Only 11 light years away from us is the seventh brightest star in the sky: Procyon. It has a magnitude of +0.34 . We can locate it in the constellation of Can Menor. Its surface temperature is about 6,076 ºC.
Achernar
The eighth brightest star in the night sky is Achernar, with a magnitude of +0.50. Located in the constellation of Eridanus, it has a bluish-white color and a surface temperature of 14,236 ºC . Achernar is 140 light years distant from Earth.
Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse is located at a distance of 630 light years from Earth. It is the ninth brightest star in the sky with an apparent magnitude of +0.58. Located in the constellation Orion, it is a bright red supergiant star. Its temperature is 3,226 ºC.
Hadar
The tenth brightest star in our night sky is Hadar, also known as Agena or Beta Centauri. Its apparent magnitude is +0.60 and it is 352 light years distant from Earth, in the constellation Centaurus. Its surface temperature is almost 25,000 ºC.
