BRIGHTEST STARS
Stars that appear brightest in the night sky do so for one or both of two reasons. Either they are intrinsically very luminous or quite close to the Sun or both. Without exception, every one of the 50 brightest stars in the night sky is intrinsically brighter than the Sun (although in the case of Alpha Centauri, the nearest bright star of all, the difference is not great). However, their distances vary enormously. Those in the list below which lie furthest away, compensate for their remoteness by their extreme brilliance. The most intrinsically luminous stars known are hypergiants such as Eta Carinae, Rho Cassiopeiae, and the Pistol Star.
| Brightest stars ranked by apparent visual magnitude | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| star | vis mag | abs mag | distance (ly) |
| Sun | -26.72 | 4.83 | - |
| Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris) | -1.44 | 1.46 | 8.60 |
| Canopus (Alpha Carinae) | -0.62 | -5.53 | 312 |
| Alpha Centauri | -0.27 | 4.43 | 4.39 |
| Arcturus (Alpha Bootis) | -0.05 | -0.30 | 36.7 |
| Vega (Alpha Lyrae) | 0.03 | 0.58 | 25.3 |
| Capella (Alpha Aurigae) | 0.08 | -0.48 | 42 |
| Rigel (Beta Orionis) | 0.18 | -6.69 | 773 |
| Procyon (Alpha Canis Minoris) | 0.40 | 2.68 | 11.4 |
| Achernar (Alpha Eridanus) | 0.45 | -2.77 | 144 |
| Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) | 0.45v | -5.14 | 427 |
| Hadar (Beta Centauri) | 0.61v | -5.43 | 525 |
| Altair (Alpha Aquilae) | 0.76 | 2.20 | 16 |
| Acrux (Alpha Crucis) | 0.77 | -4.19 | 321 |
| Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri) | 0.87v | -0.64 | 65 |
| Spica (Alpha Virginis) | 0.98v | -3.55 | 262 |
| Antares (Alpha Scorpii) | 1.06v | -5.28 | 604 |
| Pollux (Beta Geminorum) | 1.16 | 1.08 | 34 |
| Fomalhaut (Alpha Piscis Australis) | 1.17 | 1.74 | 25 |
| Deneb (Alpha Cygni) | 1.25 | -8.73 | 3,230 |
| Mimosa (Beta Crucis) | 1.25v | -3.92 | 353 |
| Regulus (Alpha Leonis) | 1.36 | -0.52 | 77 |
| Adhara (Epsilon Canis Majoris) | 1.50 | -4.11 | 430 |
| Castor (Alpha Geminorum) | 1.58 | 0.58 | 52 |
| Gacrux (Gamma Crucis) | 1.59v | -0.56 | 88 |
| Shaula (Lambda Scorpii) | 1.62v | -5.05 | 703 |
