List of the brightest stars

The following list of the brightest stars shows the 100 brightest stars as seen from the earth according to their apparent brightness . Of the total electromagnetic radiation , only the parts of visible light are taken into account. For the ranking, the average value of the apparent brightness was used for variable stars , and the combined visual brightness for non-separable components of double or multiple stars .

For comparison, in addition to the sun , very bright celestial objects such as the Earth's moon and some planets of the solar system are listed.

visibility

The stars that are always in the sky in Central Europe do this all in its northern half. They “circle” around the North Star , which is at 50 ° north latitude (corresponds roughly to the confluence of the Main into the Rhine near Mainz ) all day and year at exactly this angle above the horizon in the north. The other stars are highest when they are due south. Then they are 40 ° (or in Klagenfurt 43.4 °, in Flensburg only 35 °) higher than their declination above the horizon.

The right ascension now indicates by how many hours this position deviates from the noon position of the sun at the beginning of spring . A star with a right ascension of 0 h and a declination of 0 ° would e.g. B. at the beginning of spring exactly with the sun at noon at 40 ° (Klagenfurt: 43.4 °; Flensburg: 35 °) above the horizon. However, he would be invisible to us at this point in time. It would be best visible exactly six months later, at the beginning of autumn, at midnight.

A star that had a right ascension of 2 hours would be rotated relative to this by 2/24 = 1/12. One twelfth of a year, i.e. one month, after the beginning of spring, it would be in the south with the sun and six months later, i.e. around October 21, at midnight in the south.

midnight

The Central European Standard Time (colloquially often winter time) is based on the actual time on the 15th eastern longitude, at which Görlitz is located in the far east of Germany. There it is actually midday at 12 noon and midnight at midnight during normal time, and one hour later in summer during summer time . In Aachen , on the 6th degree of longitude, this time is shifted backwards by the 36 minutes that the sun is later there in the south. Also in Bern or Basel (just under or a good 7.5 °) the sun is only half an hour later than in Görlitz, while in the east of Vienna (16.5 °) it was 6 minutes earlier.

For the fictional star with right ascension 0 h and declination 0 ° this would mean that it would be at its zenith at the beginning of autumn, when summer time still applies, at 0:54 a.m. in the Vienna night sky and at 1:36 a.m. in the Aachen night sky, and exactly as high as the sun on the preceding and following noon.

Sample calculation

Sirius , the brightest star in the earthly sky, has a declination of around −17 ° and a right ascension of 06 h 45 m. In Mainz it is a maximum of 23 ° above the horizon and is 3 months and about 11 days after the beginning of spring, i.e. the beginning of July, with the sun in the south, which makes it invisible. In Mainz it will therefore be at midnight at the beginning of January, at 8.3 ° east longitude that is 0:27 in standard time, in the south.

The Aldebaran , the brightest star in Taurus , has its southern position at 56.5 ° due to a declination of + 16.5 ° and is there with the sun about 2 months and 9 days later, i.e. at the beginning of June, due to a right ascension of 4 h 36 m . The fact that this does not fall into the zodiac sign Taurus , but into the next one, the Gemini , is due to the precession of the earth's axis ( migration of the spring equinox ) - since 1700 to 3000 years the constellation has shifted by around a month. At the beginning of December, Aldebaran is in the south at midnight.

list

For comparison, the list includes the sun, the moon and the brightest planets with a green background and without rank.

In Central Europe (50 ° N; corresponds roughly to the confluence of the Main in the Rhine near Mainz) the 28 brightest stars with declination below -40 ° are never visible; their lines are darkened. In the extreme south of Austria (Klagenfurt: 46.6 ° N) and German-speaking Switzerland this would be only 23, in the extreme north of Germany (55 ° N; Flensburg) 31.

Conversely, in Central Europe the 20 of the brightest stars are always above the horizon with a declination of over + 40 °; their lines are highlighted. In Klagenfurt this number would decrease to 17, in Flensburg it would increase to 22. Stars of the just to the north never-setting which is Vega , the fifth-brightest star and in Central Europe even the third brightest, starting from a line Dusseldorf - Leipzig throughout the night sky. Since a very large proportion of the German population (Ruhr area, Berlin, Hamburg) lives north of this line, it was also highlighted. It can also be clearly seen further south, at least on every clear night, although not always throughout the night.

It should be noted that the five stars darkened here, which are theoretically still visible from Klagenfurt, are only there for a very short period of time in the year and only directly above the horizon, which is why they are clear because of a longer light path through the atmosphere appear darker than the value in the table indicates.

Legend: … Celestial bodies in our solar system for comparison … Star is always ^* visible, never sets. (Declination> + 40 °) ... the star is sometimes ^* visible, it rises and falls. (Declination between + 40 ° and −40 °, exception: Wega ) ... the star is never ^* visible, never rises, is always below the horizon. (Declination <−40 °) var   ... value varies





^* Applies to places on earth that are 50 ° north latitude

¹Positive declination: northern starry sky ( northern sky ), negative declination: southern starry sky ( southern sky )

rank	Apparent brightness	Abs. Brightness	designation	Proper name	Distance ( Lj )	Declination 1	Right ascension
	−26.73	4.83		Sun	0.000016	−23.44 ° to + 23.44 °	var
	−12.7 var			moon	0.00000004	−28.6 ° to + 28.6 °	var
	0−4.6 var			Venus	0.000004 to -0.000028	var	var
	0−2.94 var			Jupiter	0.000062 to -0.000102	var	var
	0−2.91 var			Mars	0.000006 to -0.000042	var	var
	0−1.9 var			Mercury	0.000008 to -0.000023	var	var
1	0−1.46	1.43	α CMa	Sirius	8.6	−16 ° 42 ′ 57 ″	06 h 45 m 09 s
2	0−0.73	−5.64	α Car	Canopus	312	−52 ° 41 ′ 44 ″	06 h 23 m 57 s
	0−0.43 var			Saturn	0.000126 to -0.000175	var	var
3	0−0.05 var	−0.31	α Boo	Arcture	37	+ 19 ° 10 ′ 57 ″	14 h 15 m 40 s
4th	0−0.01	4.40	α 1 cen	Alpha Centauri A	4.4	−60 ° 50 ′ 02 ″	14 h 39 m 36 s
5	000.03	0.58	α Lyr	Vega	25.3	+ 38 ° 47 ′ 01 ″	18 h 36 m 56 s
6th	000.08	−0.49	α Aur	Capella	42	+ 45 ° 59 ′ 53 ″	05 h 16 m 41 s
7th	000.18	−6.72	β Ori	Rigel	770	−8 ° 12 ′ 06 ″	05 h 14 m 32 s
8th	000.36	2.64	α CMi	Prokyon	11.4	+ 5 ° 13 ′ 30 ″	07 h 39 m 18 s
9	000.42 var	−5.04	α Ori	Betelgeuse	640	+ 7 ° 24 ′ 26 ″	05 h 55 m 10 s
10	000.50	−2.77	α Eri	Achernar	145	−57 ° 14 ′ 12 ″	01 h 37 m 43 s
11	000.61	−5.42	β cen	Beta Centauri	525	−60 ° 22 ′ 22 ″	14 h 03 m 49 s
12	000.76	2.21	α Aql	Altair	16.7	+ 8 ° 52 ′ 06 ″	19 h 50 m 47 s
13	000.77	−4.17	α Cru	Acrux	320	−63 ° 05 ′ 57 ″	12 h 26 m 36 s
14th	000.87 var	−0.64	α tau	Aldebaran	65	+ 16 ° 30 ′ 33 ″	04 h 35 m 55 s
15th	000.98	−3.56	α Vir	Spica	262	−11 ° 09 ′ 41 ″	13 h 25 m 11 s
16	001.06 var	−5.39	α Sco	Antares	604	−26 ° 25 ′ 55 ″	16 h 29 m 24 s
17th	001.16	1.07	β According to	Pollux	33	+ 28 ° 01 ′ 34 ″	07 h 45 m 19 s
18th	001.17	1.72	α PsA	Fomal skin	25.1	−29 ° 37 ′ 20 ″	22 h 57 m 39 s
19th	001.25	−3.91	β Cru	Becrux	352	−59 ° 41 ′ 19 ″	12 h 47 m 43 s
20th	001.25	−8.47	α Cyg	Deneb	1550	+ 45 ° 16 ′ 49 ″	20 h 41 m 26 s
21st	001.35	5.74	α 2 cen	Alpha Centauri B	4.4	−60 ° 50 ′ 14 ″	14 h 39 m 35 s
22nd	001.36	−0.52	α Leo	Regulus	78	+ 11 ° 58 ′ 02 ″	10 h 08 m 22 s
23	001.50	−4.1	ε CMa	Adhara	430	−28 ° 58 ′ 20 ″	06 h 58 m 38 s
24	001.58	0.59	α according to	Castor	52	+ 31 ° 53 ′ 18 ″	07 h 34 m 36 s
25th	001.59	−0.52	γ Cru	Gacrux	88	−57 ° 06 ′ 48 ″	12 h 31 m 10 s
26th	001.62	−5.05	λ Sco	Shaula	700	−37 ° 06 ′ 14 ″	17 h 33 m 36 s
27	001.64	−2.72	γ Ori	Bellatrix	243	+ 6 ° 20 ′ 59 ″	05 h 25 m 08 s
28	001.65	−1.36	β tau	Elnath	131	+ 28 ° 36 ′ 27 ″	05 h 26 m 17 s
29	001.67	−0.99	β Car	Miaplacidus	113	−69 ° 43 ′ 02 ″	09 h 13 m 12 s
30th	001.69	−6.38	ε Ori	Alnilam	1340	−1 ° 12 ′ 07 ″	05 h 36 m 13 s
31	001.73	−0.72	α group	Al Na'ir	101	−46 ° 57 ′ 40 ″	22 h 08 m 14 s
32	001.74	−5.25	ζ Ori	Alnitak	820	−1 ° 56 ′ 34 ″	05 h 40 m 46 s
33	001.75	−5.25	γ Vel	Gamma Velorum	840	−47 ° 20 ′ 12 ″	08 h 09 m 32 s
34	001.76	−0.2	ε UMa	Alioth	81	+ 55 ° 57 ′ 35 ″	12 h 54 m 02 s
35	001.79	−4.49	α per	Mirfak	592	+ 49 ° 51 ′ 40 ″	03 h 24 m 19 s
36	001.79	−1.39	ε Sgr	Kaus Australis	143	−34 ° 23 ′ 05 ″	18 h 24 m 10 s
37	001.81	−1.09	α UMa	Dubhe	124	+ 61 ° 45 ′ 03 ″	11 h 03 m 44 s
38	001.83	−6.87	δ CMa	Wezen	1800	−26 ° 23 ′ 36 ″	07 h 08 m 23 s
39	001.85	−0.59	η UMa	Alkaid / Benetnasch	100	+ 49 ° 18 ′ 48 ″	13 h 47 m 32 s
40	001.86	−4.57	ε Car	Avior	630	−59 ° 30 ′ 34 ″	08 h 22 m 31 s
41	001.86	−2.75	θ Sco	Sargas	272	−42 ° 59 ′ 52 ″	17 h 37 m 19 s
42	001.90 var	−0.1	β Aur	Menkalinan	82	+ 44 ° 56 ′ 51 ″	05 h 59 m 32 s
43	001.91	−3.61	α TrA	Atria	415	−69 ° 01 ′ 39 ″	16 h 48 m 40 s
44	001.93	−0.6	γ acc	Alhena	105	+ 16 ° 23 ′ 57 ″	06 h 37 m 43 s
45	001.93	0.01	δ Vel	Delta Velorum	80	−54 ° 42 ′ 30 ″	08 h 44 m 42 s
46	001.94	−1.82	α Pav	Alpha Pavonis	185	−56 ° 44 ′ 06 ″	20 h 25 m 39 s
47	001.97 var	−3.62	α UMi	Pole Star	430	+ 89 ° 15 ′ 51 ″	02 h 31 m 50 s
48	001.98	−3.95	β CMa	Murzim	500	−17 ° 57 ′ 22 ″	06 h 22 m 42 s
49	001.99	−1.7	α Hya	Alphard	177	−8 ° 39 ′ 31 ″	09 h 27 m 35 s
50	002.01	0.48	α Ari	Hamal	66	+ 23 ° 27 ′ 07 ″	02 h 07 m 40 s
51	002.01	−0.93	γ Leo	Algieba	125	+ 19 ° 50 ′ 30 ″	10 h 19 m 58 s
52	002.04	−0.3	β cet	Deneb Kaitos	95	−17 ° 59 ′ 12 ″	00 h 43 m 35 s
53	002.05	−2.14	σ Sgr	Nunki	225	−26 ° 17 ′ 48 ″	18 h 55 m 16 s
54	002.06	0.7	θ cen	Menkent	61	−36 ° 22 ′ 11 ″	14 h 06 m 40 s
55	002.07	−0.3	α And	Alpheratz	97	+ 29 ° 05 ′ 26 ″	00 h 08 m 23 s
56	002.07	−4.65	κ Ori	Saiph	720	−9 ° 40 ′ 11 ″	05 h 47 m 45 s
57	002.07	−1.86	β And	Mirach	200	+ 35 ° 37 ′ 14 ″	01 h 09 m 43 s
58	002.07	−0.87	β UMi	Kochab	126	+ 74 ° 09 ′ 19 ″	14 h 50 m 08 s
59	002.07	−1.52	β group	Beta Gruis	170	−46 ° 53 ′ 05 ″	22 h 42 m 40 s
60	002.08	1.3	α Oph	Ras Alhague	47	+ 12 ° 33 ′ 36 ″	17 h 34 m 56 s
61	002.09 var	−0.18	β per	Algol	93	+ 40 ° 57 ′ 20 ″	03 h 08 m 10 s
62	002.10	−3.08	γ and	Alamach	355	+ 42 ° 19 ′ 47 ″	02 h 03 m 54 s
63	002.14	1.92	β Leo	Denebola	36	+ 14 ° 34 ′ 19 ″	11 h 49 m 03 s
64	002.15	−4	γ Cas	Tsih	550	+ 60 ° 43 '00 ″	00 h 56 m 43 s
65	002.20	−0.81	γ Cen	Muhlifain	130	−48 ° 57 ′ 36 ″	12 h 41 m 31 s
66	002.21	−5.95	ζ Pup	Naos	1400	−40 ° 00 ′ 11 ″	08 h 03 m 35 s
67	002.21	−4.42	ι Car	Aspidiske / Turais (Tureis) / Scutulum	690	−59 ° 16 ′ 31 ″	09 h 17 m 05 s
68	002.22	0.42	α CrB	Gemma / Alphecca (Alphekka)	75	+ 26 ° 42 ′ 53 ″	15 h 34 m 41 s
69	002.23	−3.99	λ Vel	Suhail	575	−43 ° 14 ′ 00 ″	09 h 06 m 10 s
70	002.23	0.33	ζ UMa	Mizar	78	+ 54 ° 55 ′ 31 ″	13 h 23 m 55 s
71	002.23	−6.12	γ Cyg	Sadr	1500	+ 40 ° 15 ′ 24 ″	20 h 22 m 14 s
72	002.24	−1.99	α Cas	Schedir	230	+ 56 ° 32 ′ 14 ″	00 h 40 m 30 s
73	002.24	−1.04	γ Dra	Etamin	148	+ 51 ° 29 ′ 20 ″	17 h 56 m 36 s
74	002.25	−4.99	δ Ori	Mintaka	920	+ 0 ° 17 ′ 57 ″	05 h 32 m 00 s
75	002.28	1.17	β Cas	Caph	54	+ 59 ° 08 ′ 59 ″	00 h 09 m 11 s
76	002.29	−3.02	ε Cen	Epsilon Centauri	375	−53 ° 27 ′ 59 ″	13 h 39 m 53 s
77	002.29	−3.16	δ Sco	Jubba	400	−22 ° 29 ′ 00 ″	15 h 57 m 24 s
78	002.29	0.78	ε Sco	White	65	−34 ° 17 ′ 36 ″	16 h 50 m 10 s
79	002.30	−3.83	α Lup	Alpha Lupi	550	−47 ° 23 ′ 18 ″	14 h 41 m 56 s
80	002.33	−2.55	η Cen	Eta Centauri	310	−42 ° 09 ′ 28 ″	14 h 35 m 30 s
81	002.34	0.41	β UMa	Merak	79	+ 56 ° 22 ′ 57 ″	11 h 01 m 50 s
82	002.35	−1.69	ε Boo	Izar	210	+ 27 ° 04 ′ 27 ″	14 h 44 m 59 s
83	002.38	−4.19	ε Peg	Enif	670	+ 9 ° 52 ′ 30 ″	21 h 44 m 11 s
84	002.39	−3.38	κ Sco	Girtab	465	−39 ° 01 ′ 48 ″	17 h 42 m 29 s
85	002.40	0.52	α Phe	Ankaa	77	−42 ° 18 ′ 22 ″	00 h 26 m 17 s
86	002.41	0.36	γ UMa	Phecda	83	+ 53 ° 41 ′ 41 ″	11 h 53 m 50 s
87	002.43	0.37	η Oph	Sabik	84	−15 ° 43 ′ 29 ″	17 h 10 m 22 s
88	002.44	−1.49	β peg	Scheat	200	+ 28 ° 04 ′ 58 ″	23 h 03 m 46 s
89	002.45	1.58	α Cep	Alderamin	49	+ 62 ° 35 ′ 08 ″	21 h 18 m 35 s
90	002.45	−7.51	η CMa	Aludra	3200	−29 ° 18 ′ 11 ″	07 h 24 m 06 s
91	002.47	−3.62	κ Vel	Kappa Velorum	540	−55 ° 00 ′ 39 ″	09 h 22 m 07 s
92	002.48	0.76	ε Cyg	Gienah	72	+ 33 ° 58 ′ 13 ″	20 h 46 m 13 s
93	002.49	−0.67	α peg	Markab	140	+ 15 ° 12 ′ 19 ″	23 h 04 m 46 s
94	002.54	−1.61	α cet	Menkar	220	+ 4 ° 05 ′ 23 ″	03 h 02 m 17 s
95	002.54	−3.2	ζ Oph	Han	460	−10 ° 34 ′ 02 ″	16 h 37 m 10 s
96	002.55	−2.81	ζ Cen	Zeta Centauri	385	−47 ° 17 ′ 18 ″	13 h 55 m 32 s
97	002.56	1.32	δ Leo	Zosma	58	+ 20 ° 31 ′ 25 ″	11 h 14 m 07 s
98	002.56	−3.5	β Sco	Akrab	530	−19 ° 48 ′ 19 ″	16 h 05 m 26 s
99	002.58	−5.4	α Lep	Arneb	1300	−17 ° 49 ′ 20 ″	05 h 32 m 44 s
100	002.58	−2.84	δ cen	Delta Centauri	400	−50 ° 43 ′ 21 ″	12 h 08 m 21 s

Past and future

Due to the proper movement of both the sun and the other stars within the Milky Way, their distances to one another change and thus also the apparent brightness, viewed from Earth, changes over long periods of time. Sirius has been the brightest star in the sky from Earth (apart from the Sun) for about 90,000 years. Canopus had previously held this rank several times , while Wega will replace Sirius as the brightest star in around 210,000 years . In the past five million years there have also been a few stars that appeared significantly brighter from Earth than Sirius does today. Adhara (ε Canis Majoris) reached an apparent brightness of almost −4 mag almost five million years ago , comparable to the planet Venus .

The following list from 1998 contains the brightest stars from Earth within the last and next five million years. By evaluating the new Gaia satellite data, it was later discovered that Gliese 710 will probably reach a brightness of −2.7 mag in 1.35 million years and will therefore be the brightest star on earth at this point in time.

star	class	Beginning of time as the brightest star ( kilo-years )	End of time as the brightest star (kilo-years)	Time of greatest brightness (kilo-years)	Greatest apparent brightness	Distance at maximum brightness ( light years )	Today's apparent brightness	Today's distance (light years)
Adhara	B2Iab	...	−4,460	−4,700	−3.99	34	1.50	431
Murzim	B1II / III	−4,460	−3,700	−4,420	−3.65	37	1.98	499
Canopus	F0Ib	−3,700	−1,370	−3,110	−1.86	177	−0.62	313
Askella	A2III + A4IV	−1,370	−1.080	−1,200	−2.74	8th	2.60	89
Zeta Leporis	A2Vann	−1.080	−950	−1.050	−2.05	5.3	3.55	70.2
Canopus	F0Ib	−950	−420	−950	−1.09	252	−0.62	313
Aldebaran	K5III	−420	−210	−320	−1.54	21.5	0.87	65.1
Capella	G6III + G2III	−210	−160	−240	−0.82	27.9	0.08	42.2
Canopus	F0Ib	−160	−90	−160	−0.70	302	−0.62	313
Sirius	A0m	−90	+210	+60	−1.66	7.8	−1.46	8.6
Vega	A0V	+210	+480	+290	−0.81	17.2	0.03	25.3
Canopus	F0Ib	+480	+990	+480	−0.40	346	−0.62	313
Menkalinan	A2IV + A2IV	+990	+1,150	+1,190	−0.40	28.5	1.90	82.1
Delta Scuti	F2IIIp	+1,150	+1,330	+1,250	−1.84	9.2	4.70	187
Etamin	K5III	+1,330	+2,030	+1,550	−1.39	27.7	2.24	148
Ypsilon Librae	K5III	+2,030	+2,670	+2,290	−0.46	30th	3.60	195
NR Canis Majoris	F2V	+2,670	+3,050	+2,870	−0.88	14th	5.60	280
Omicron Herculis	B9.5V	+3,050	+3,870	+3,470	−0.63	44	3.84	347
Albireo	K3II + B9.5V	+3,870	+5,000	+4,610	−0.52	80	2.90	385

See also

• List of the greatest stars
• List of the most massive stars
• List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs
• List of double and multiple stars
• Stern 1. Size , Star 2. Size
• Navigation star

Web links

• Atlas of the Universe: The Brightest Stars. Retrieved December 13, 2015 . 
• Jim Kaler: The 172 brightest stars. In: STARS. Retrieved October 29, 2018 . 

Remarks

1. ↑ The apparent brightness only makes up part of the bolometric total brightness , to which the radiation emitted over the entire electromagnetic spectrum contributes.
2. ↑ Also circumpolar stars are highest when they are in the south - if its declination is smaller than the latitude of the observation site. Alkaid , the front drawbar star of the Big Dipper (49 °), is at the 50th parallel z. B. 9 ° high in the north and 89 ° in the south. Only z. E.g. with Alioth (also Big Dipper, 56 °) the statement is wrong, also arithmetically. In the "south" it is raised by 40 ° to 96 °, which means that it is 84 ° high in the north. Stars that have a higher declination than the latitude from which they are observed have both their highest and lowest levels in the north.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jocelyn Tomkin: Once and Future Celestial Kings. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; accessed on December 13, 2015 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
2. ↑ Filip Berski and Piotr A. Dybczyński: Gliese 710 will pass the Sun even closer. Retrieved July 20, 2020 .