The starry sky has always attracted a person. Even being at a low stage of development, dressing in animal skins and using stone tools, the man was already raising his head and looked at the mysterious points that mysteriously flickered in the depths of the vast sky.
Stars have become one of the foundations of human mythology. According to ancient people, it was there that the gods lived. The stars have always been for the person something sacred, unattainable for the ordinary mortal. One of the most ancient sciences of mankind was astrology, which studied the influence of heavenly bodies on human life.
Today, the stars remain at the center of our attention, but, of course, they are more studied by astronomers, and science fiction writers come up with stories about the time when a person can reach the stars. An ordinary person often lifts his head to admire the beautiful stars in the night sky, just like his distant ancestors did millions of years ago. We have compiled a list for you, in which the is the brightest stars on the sky .
10
Betelgeuse
On the tenth place of our list is Betelgeuse, astronomers call it α Orion. This star represents a great mystery for astronomers: they are still arguing about its origin and can not understand its periodic variability.
This star belongs to the class of red giants and its dimensions are 500-800 times larger than the size of our Sun. If we moved it to our system, its boundaries would extend to the orbit of Jupiter. Over the past 15 years, the size of this star has decreased by 15%.Scientists do not understand the reason for this phenomenon until now.
Betelgeuse is located at a distance of 570 light years from the Sun, so the trip to it in the near future just will not take place.
9
Ahernarn or α Eridan
The first star in this constellation, it ranks ninth in our list of 's brightest stars in the night sky .Ahernar is at the very end of the constellation Eridani. This star is considered to be a class of blue stars, it is eight times heavier than our Sun and exceeds it by a thousand times in brightness.
Achernar is located at a distance of 144 light years from our solar system and the journey to it in the near future also looks unlikely. Another interesting feature of this star is that it rotates around its axis at a tremendous speed.
8
Procyon or α Small Dog
This star is the eighth in its brightness on our firmament .The name of this star from Greek is translated as "before the dog".Procyon enters the winter triangle, together with the stars Sirius and Betelgeuse.
This star belongs to the double stars. In the sky we can see a larger star from the pair, the second star is a white dwarf of small size.
This legend is related to this star. The constellation of the Small Dog symbolizes the dog of the first wine maker Ikaria, whom the insidious shepherds killed by watering it with their own wine. A faithful dog found the grave of his master.
7
Rigel or β Orion
This star is the seventh in brightness on our sky .The main reason for the rather low place in our rating is the very large distance between the Earth and this star. If Rigel was a little closer( at a distance of Sirius, for example), then in its brightness, he would have surpassed many other luminaries.
Rigel belongs to the class of blue and white supergiants. The dimensions of this star are impressive: it is more than our Sun in 74 times. In fact, Rigel is not one star, but three: in addition to the giant, this star company also includes two smaller stars.
Rigel is at a distance of 870 light-years from the Sun, it's a lot.
In Arabic, the name of this star means "leg".People for a long time knew this star, it was included in the mythology of many peoples, beginning with the ancient Egyptians. They considered Rigel the embodiment of Osiris, one of the most powerful gods in their pantheon.
6
Chapel or α Charioteer
One of the beautiful stars of our sky is .It is a double star, which in ancient times was an independent constellation and symbolized a goat with kids. The chapel is a double star, which consists of two yellow giants that revolve around a common center. Each of these stars is 2.5 times heavier than our Sun and they are located at a distance of 42 light years from our planetary system. These stars are much brighter than our sun.
An ancient Greek legend is associated with the Chapel, according to which Zeus was nourished by the goat Amalthea. Once Zeus inadvertently broke off one of the horns of an animal and so in the world appeared a cornucopia.
5
Vega or α Lira
One of the of the brightest and most beautiful stars on our sky .It is located at a distance of 25 light-years from our Sun( this is quite a short distance).Vega refers to the constellation of Lyra, the size of this star is almost three times the size of our Sun.
This star rotates around its axis at a frenzied speed.
Vega can be called one of the most studied stars. It is located at a short distance and is very convenient for research.
This myth is associated with many myths of different peoples of our planet. In our latitudes Vega is one of the brightest stars in the sky and second only to Sirius and Arcturus.
4
Arcturus or α Boots
One of 's brightest and most beautiful stars on the sky , which can be seen anywhere in the world. The reasons for this brightness are the large size of the star and a small distance from it to our planet.
Arcturus belongs to the class of red giants and has huge dimensions. The distance from our solar system to this star is "only" 36.7 light years. It is more than 25 times larger than our star. At the same time, the brightness of Arcturus is 110 times higher than the Sun.
Its name is due to the star of the constellation Ursa Major. In Greek, its name means "guardian of a bear".Arcturus is very easy in the starry sky, it's enough just to draw an imaginary arc through the handle of the Big Dipper bucket.
3
Toliman or α Centauri
The second place on our list is the triple star, which is attributed to the constellation Centaurus. This star system consists of three stars: two of them are close in size to our Sun and a third star, which is a red dwarf called Proxima Centauri.
Astronomers call a double star, which we can see with the naked eye of Toliban. These stars are very close to our planetary system, and therefore they seem very bright to us. In fact, their brightness and size are quite modest. The distance from the Sun to these stars is only 4.36 light years. By astronomical measures, it's almost there. Proxima Centauri was discovered only in 1915, it behaves strangely, periodically its brightness changes.
2
Canopus or α Keel
This is the second brightest star on our sky .But, unfortunately, we can not see it, because Canopus is only visible in the southern hemisphere of our planet. In the northern part, it is visible only in tropical latitudes.
This is the brightest star in the southern hemisphere, in addition, it performs in navigation the same role as the North Pole star.
Canopus is a huge star, which is eight times larger than our luminary. This star belongs to the class of supergiants, and it is on the second place in terms of brightness only because the distance to it is very large. The distance from the Sun to Canopus is about 319 light-years. Canopus - the brightest star in a radius of 700 light years.
There is no unified opinion about the origin of the name of the star. Most likely, it received its name in honor of the helmsman, who was on the ship Menelaus( this is the character of the Greek epic about the Trojan War).
1
Sirius or α Large Dog
The brightest star of our sky, , which belongs to the constellation of the Great Dog. This star can be called the most important for earthlings, of course, after our Sun. People from ancient times were very sensitive and respectful to this luminary. Numerous myths and legends are built about him. The ancient Egyptians placed their gods on Sirius. This star can be observed from anywhere on the earth's surface.
Ancient Sumerians watched Sirius and believed that it was the gods who created life on this planet. Very carefully, this star was observed by the Egyptians, it was associated with their religious cults Osiris and Isis. In addition, according to Sirius, they determined the time of the Nile flood, which was important for agriculture.
If we talk about Sirius from the point of view of astronomy, then it should be noted that this is a double star, which consists of a star of the spectral class A1 and a white dwarf( Sirius B).The second star you can not see with the naked eye. Both stars revolve around a single center with a period of 50 years. Sirius A is about twice the size of our Sun.
Sirius is at a distance of 8.6 light years from us.
The ancient Greeks believed that Sirius is the dog of the star hunter Orion, who pursues his prey. There is an African tribe of Dogon that worships Sirius. But this is not surprising. Africans who did not know writing had information about the existence of Sirius B, which was discovered only in the middle of the 19th century with the help of quite sophisticated telescopes. The calendar of the Dogon is compiled on the basis of the periods of rotation of Sirius B around Sirius A. And compiled fairly accurately. Where did the primitive African tribe get all this information - a mystery.
