Sirius – in the constellation Canis Major the Greater Dog – is the sky’s brightest star. It’s very easy to spot on winter and spring evenings.
Brightest Stars
Feb 16, 2012
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From southerly latitudes, you’ll easily find Canopus on February evenings. Look southward below brilliant Sirius. Canopus is our second-brightest star.
Feb 04, 2012
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Someday, the star Betelgeuse will run out of fuel, collapse under its own weight, and then rebound in a spectacular supernova explosion. Someday … but probably not soon.
Jan 29, 2012
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Elnath is the second-brightest star in Taurus the Bull. It’s the closest bright star to the galactic anticenter – the point in space that lies directly opposite of the center of our Milky Way galaxy.
Jan 21, 2012
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We see Capella as the brightest star in the constellation Auriga the Charioteer. It is really two stars, each with a golden color similar to our sun.
Jan 15, 2012
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We could not live as close to Rigel as we live to our sun, because Rigel is nearly twice as hot – and about 40,000 times brighter – than our local star.
Jan 07, 2012
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If Aldebaran were placed where the sun is now, its surface would extend almost to the orbit of Mercury.
On (or around) Halloween, look for Algol – a star named for a demon!
May 18, 2011
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Arcturus is cutting perpendicularly through the galactic disk at a tremendous rate of speed – some 150 kilometers per second.
Mar 03, 2011
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Procyon – in Canis Minor the Lesser Dog – actually means “before the dog.” That’s because it rises into the sky shortly before the Dog Star Sirius in Canis Major.
