Brightest Stars
Listed below are the 20 brightest stars as seen from our planet. The magnitude is a measure of the brightness of a star and is represented by a positive or negative number. The brighter the star, the lower the magnitude. The faintest stars visible to the naked eye have a magnitude lower than 6. Of the billions of stars in the sky, only around 6000 are visible to the naked eye.
| Star Name | Apparent Magnitude |
Absolute Magnitude |
Distance (Light Years) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sirius A | -1.46 | +1.4 | 8.6 |
| Canopus | -0.72 | -8.5 | 98 |
| Arcturus | -0.06 | -0.3 | 36 |
| Alpha Centauri A | -0.01 | +4.4 | 4.3 |
| Vega | +0.04 | +0.5 | 26.5 |
| Capella | +0.05 | -0.7 | 45 |
| Rigel | +0.14 | -6.8 | 900 |
| Procyon A | +0.37 | +2.6 | 11.2 |
| Betelgeuse | +0.41 | -5.5 | 520 |
| Achernar | +0.51 | -1.0 | 118 |
| Beta Centauri | +0.63 | -5.1 | 490 |
| Altair | +0.77 | +2.2 | 16.5 |
| Aldebaran | +0.86 | -0.2 | 68 |
| Spica | +0.91 | -3.6 | 220 |
| Antares | +0.92 | -4.5 | 520 |
| Pollux | +1.16 | +0.8 | 35 |
| Fomalhaut | +1.19 | +2.0 | 22.6 |
| Deneb | +1.26 | -6.9 | 1 500 |
| Beta Crucis | +1.28 | -4.6 | 490 |
| Alpha Crucis | +0.83 | -4.0 | 120 |
