List of brightest stars

Bright stars are bright because they have high luminosities and/or they are nearby. Below are the 91 brightest individual stars as seen from Earth in visible wavelengths (apparent magnitude less than or equal to +2.50). The number of observable stars increases rapidly as the magnitude increases [http://www.stargazing.net/David/constel/howmanystars.html] , so a more inclusive list would be long indeed. The sky has been mapped almost completely up to +11 in visible wavelengths, and continuing surveys are cataloging much fainter objects.

For comparison, the non-stellar objects in our Solar System that have maximum visible magnitudes less than or equal to +2.50 are the Moon (−12.9), Venus (−4.6), Jupiter (−2.9), Mars (−2.9), Mercury (−1.9), and Saturn (−0.2).

The exact order of this list of stars is not completely well-defined because of the following reasons:
*Multiple stars are listed individually here when the magnitude difference between them is less than five. Some other lists report the brightness of all the component stars combined. For example, the combined magnitude for Alpha Centauri is −0.27 (3rd), Capella is 0.08 (6th), and Acrux is 0.77 (13th).
*There are statistical variations in measured values.
*Some stars are actually variable stars (as indicated with var).

ee also

*Lists of stars
*List of nearest stars
*List of most luminous stars

External links

* [http://www.ianridpath.com/brightest.htm 25 Brightest Stars, as Seen from the Earth]
* [http://www.johnpratt.com/items/astronomy/bright_stars.html Bright Stars Worth Knowing]
* [http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/stars.html The Brightest Stars at An Atlas of the Universe]
* [http://www.faster.co.nz/~rasnz/Stars/BrightStars.htm Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand Brightest List]
* [http://www.astronomynotes.com/starprop/s4.htm The Magnitude system]
* [http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/stars/magnitudes.html About stellar magnitudes]