Stars are celestial bodies that emit light as a result of nuclear fusion reactions and can produce energy in their cores. Stars have become a part of human life, stars are widely used in religious matters, farming, navigation, calendars, and others. The sun is the brightest star and closest to the earth, the distance is about 149,680,000 kilometers.
Here are the brightest stars known to date.
• Vega
Vega is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra. This star is the fifth brightest star in the night sky. The star Vega can be seen clearly in the sky in the northern hemisphere. It is about 25 light years from Earth.
• Canopus – Alfa Carinae
Canopus is the second brightest star. The name "Canopus" was taken from a ship navigator named Canobus who worked with King Menelaus of Sparta during the Trojan War.
Arcturus – Alpha Bootis Arcturus is the fourth brightest star in the constellation Bootes. The visual brightness of Arcturus is –0.05 and belongs to the spectrum class K0III. Arcturus is a group of giant stars (class III) and type K0. Arcturus is 37 light years away and 25 times the size of the Sun.
• Rigil Kentaurus
Rigil Kentaurus is also known by his popular name Alpha Centauri. This star is the 3rd brightest after the two stars above. Rigil Kentaurus is the brightest in the constellation Centaurus. This star is a three-star system that looks like one star when viewed from afar.
Rigil Kentaurus is about 4.2 to 4.4 light years from our solar system and is the closest star system to the solar system. This star is visible to most people in the southern part of planet Earth.
• Achernar – Alfa Eridani
The name Achernar is taken from the Arah language which means the end or downstream of the river. This star is located in the constellation Eridaus. Achernar has a distance of 139 light and is 11.4 times the size of the sun. This star belongs to the B6Vep spectrum class. This means that the star is in the main sequence (class V) with a variable star type BE. Achernar can also rotate very quickly so it has a more condensed shape at the poles with a shorter pole radius than the equator.
• Capella or Alpha Aurigae
The brightest star in the constellation Auriga and the 6th in the sky. This star is also the most shining star in the northern sky after Arcturus and Vega. Actually Capella consists of 2 stars that are both 10 times the size of the sun.
The name Capella comes from Latin which means female goat (little), the distance of this star from the earth is 42 light years.
• Betelgeuse – Alfa Orionis
This star is located in the constellation Orion with a visual brightness of +0.0 to +1.6. Betelgeuse is a reddish semi-regular variable star that has the widest range of brightnesses compared to stars of the first magnitude. Its brightness makes Betelgeuse into the red supergiant star category. The distance is about 548 light years with the size of 764 times the sun. Betelgeuse also includes a large star that can be seen without special tools.
Thus the explanation of the brightest star in outer space, if you are curious, try to pay attention to the sky at night. Hope it is useful!
