Popular Science: Who is the brightest star in the night sky?

In the absence of light pollution and air pollution, we can see the night sky dotted with stars, and even see the Milky Way running through the sky. In terms of quantity, more than 2000 stars can be seen in one night, and more than 7000 stars can be seen in the whole sky all over the world.

There are two main factors that determine whether the stars people observe are bright or dark:

First of all, due to the luminous ability of stars,

The second is the distance between stars and people.

The brightest star at night is Sirius, and the brightest planet is Venus.

In addition, the brightness of the stars in the sky will change in different seasons of the year.

For example:

September: On the evenings of September/KLOC-0 and 2, 2005, Venus and Jupiter were the closest. At this time, Venus is the brightest star in the sky, and the brightness of Jupiter is second only to Venus. The two brightest stars are very close together, which is very worth seeing. Venus! Also known as Taibai, when the east appears in the east at dawn, it is called the morning star, and when the west appears, it is called the evening star, so today's Venus is also called the evening star. Venus is the brightest star in the sky. If the conditions are suitable at the brightest time, such as sufficient horizon height, darkness, transparent atmosphere and minimal light damage, it is the only star that can reflect shadows. On February 9, 65438, the brightest star reached -4.7, 20 times that of Sirius and 70 times that of Vega.

65438+1 October: Orion hunters enter the northern hemisphere sky on1month. The three stars on the hunter's belt point to Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, which is rising from the tree. On the head of a big dog is the famous Sirius, the brightest star in the sky (except the sun, of course).

The brightest planet

There are eight planets in the solar system, namely: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Uranus and Neptune are too far away to be seen on earth.

Then, besides the earth, the planets we can see are the so-called five planets: Jin Mu, water, fire and earth.

The brightest planet is Venus. At the same time, Venus is the brightest star in the night sky. The apparent magnitude is -4.6 at its brightest, and it is only about 50 million kilometers away from us recently. Venus usually appears in the western and eastern skies from dusk to sunset or around dawn. If observed with a small telescope with a certain magnification, Venus, like the moon, is prone to various phases. Some are like a half moon, and some are like a crescent moon.

Venus is located to the right of the center, brighter than all other planets or stars, and Jupiter is located above the center.

Venus is not only bright, but also special. It is the only big planet in the solar system that rotates in the opposite direction to other planets, from east to west. Therefore, on Venus, the sun rises in the west and sets in the east.

Jupiter is the second brightest, with an apparent magnitude of -2.9 at its brightest, which is 630 million to 930 million kilometers away from us. Jupiter is also the largest planet in the solar system, with 79 satellites as of 20 19. Jupiter is the third celestial body with average brightness in the night sky after the moon and Venus.

Although Mars is close to us, it is about 60 million kilometers recently, but because of its small size, its brightness is similar to Jupiter's, and the brightest time is -2.9. Mars will appear in the southeast sky.

We will see a bright star with a slight red light on the upper right and lower right of the moon. This is Mars. Since ancient times, blood-red Mars has attracted much attention. In ancient times, we called it "Huo Ying", which means "the sky is like fire, and its whereabouts are uncertain". It is a symbol of war, famine and death. In the west, people are named after Mars, the god of war in ancient Roman mythology. It also means bloodshed and war. Of course, these are not really related, but people's guesses, which need further research by scientists.

Saturn is the farthest visible planet, with the distance from 12 to1600 million kilometers, and the apparent magnitude at the brightest time is-0.3;

Because mercury is too small and close to the sun, it is often shrouded in sunlight and difficult to see. At its brightest, its apparent magnitude can reach-1.9.

Finally, talk about the moon. The moon is the nearest celestial body in the night sky and the brightest celestial body. It doesn't belong to a planet, but a satellite of the earth. It is only 384,000 kilometers away from us on average, and the apparent magnitude of the full moon is-12.7. The sun is the nearest star with an apparent magnitude of -26.74. It can be seen that the smaller the magnitude, the brighter it is, and the greater the absolute value of negative.

The naked eye can see the brightest star recently.

Compared with planets, the distance between stars is too far, which is calculated in light years. The distance of 1 light-year is 9.46 trillion kilometers. Measuring planets in light years is very troublesome. For example, Uranus, the farthest planet visible to the naked eye, is 2.8 billion kilometers away from us on average, only less than 0.0003 light-year. Therefore, the distance unit in the solar system is generally only kilometers or astronomical units (AU), and 1 AU is about10.5 billion kilometers, which is determined by the average distance from the earth to the sun. Outside the solar system, the distance is measured in light years (ly) or parsec (pc), and 1pc is about 3.26ly.

The nearest star is Sagittarius A, also called Nanmener. This is a three-star system, a system composed of three stars. Nanmen C star, also called proxima centauri, is the nearest star, only about 4.2 light years away from us, but it is a red dwarf star, with a mass of only about 1/8 of that of the sun. It is small in size and low in brightness, and can't be seen by naked eyes at all. Only with the help of a telescope can a bright spot be seen.

Sirius is the first bright star among the stars, and its apparent magnitude is-1.46.

It is the second closest star visible to the naked eye, 8.6 light years away. This is a binary star, consisting of a blue dwarf star (Sirius A) and a white dwarf star (Sirius B). The star is about twice the mass of the sun, and all we see is this blue dwarf; Although the mass of the white dwarf is similar to that of the sun, its volume is only the size of the earth, and its brightness is so weak that it can't be seen at all.

Orion is very easy to find, and Samsung, which is closely arranged between two bright stars, should be able to see it. Looking southeast along Samsung, a very conspicuous star is Sirius. Walking along the hunter's belt to the southeast, you can see an unusually bright star flashing blue and white. This is Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, with an apparent magnitude of minus 1.5. Sirius is the alpha star of Canis Canis, which forms the outline of a dog with other brighter stars in Canis Canis. Sirius is in the dog's mouth.

Several familiar constellations and stars

Cowherd and weaver star

The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is well known. These are two stars that seem to span the Milky Way, but in fact they are 16.4 light years apart. Therefore, it is just a good wish for the legendary magpies to bridge the bridge and meet on July 7. Because even if they have the Monkey King's ability to somersault, it will take decades or hundreds of years to walk once.

The scientific name of Altair is a star in Aquila, also known as Altair and Hegu II. It is 6.8 light years away from us/kloc-0, and its apparent magnitude is 0.77. Vega's scientific name is a star Lyra, and its alias is Vega I, which is 25 light years away and has an apparent magnitude of 0.02. Vega is farther away from us and looks brighter, which means Vega is much bigger and brighter than Altair, so the door is wrong, and it was opened by the Queen Mother.

The Big Dipper

The Big Dipper is a combination that China paid great attention to in ancient times. It is used to predict good luck and bad luck and determine the season. In fact, there are some binary stars in the Big Dipper, some people call it the Nine Planets of the Big Dipper, and a few dark companion stars are generally difficult to see, so I won't talk about it here. Let's take the Seven Stars as an example.

The combination of the Big Dipper is like a spoon for scooping water. From the spoon mouth, it is composed of Shu Tian, Tian Xuan, Vernon and Tianquan. In ancient times, it was called kui. Bucket handle consists of three stars: Yuheng, Kaiyang and Ursa Major, which was called Piao in ancient times.

Shu Tian is 124 light years away, and its apparent magnitude is 1.79. Tian Xuan is about 80 light-years away with an apparent magnitude of 2.4. Celestial qi is 83.7 light years away from us, with an apparent magnitude of 2.5. The total celestial distance is about 8 1 light-year, and the apparent magnitude is 3.4. Yuheng is about 8 1 light-year away, and its apparent magnitude is 1.77. Kaiyang is about 78.2 light years away from us, with an apparent magnitude of 2.4. The flicker distance is about 10 1 light year, and the apparent magnitude is 1.86.

orion

There are mainly seven stars in Orion, the brightest of which is Betelgeuse, which is about 863 light years away from us and has an apparent magnitude of 0. 12. Followed by Betelgeuse, about 498 light years away from us, with an apparent magnitude of 0.58; The third one is Betelgeuse, which is about 252 light years away from us, and its apparent magnitude is 1.64.

From now on, in no particular order, Betelgeuse is 647 light years away, with an apparent magnitude of 2.05. The distances between Betelgeuse I, Betelgeuse II and Mingban are about 865,438+07,65,438+0977 and 965,438+06 light years respectively, and the apparent magnitude is 65,438+0.74,65,438+0.65 and 2.25 respectively. The top one is about 1056 light years away, with an apparent magnitude of 3.39.

It should be emphasized that the so-called constellations are all fabricated by human beings according to various combinations of stars, so as to facilitate the search and memory, and there is no relationship between the stars in the constellation family. For example, the Orion mentioned above, some are only over 200 light years away from us, and some are more than 0/000 light years away from us/kloc-. Even if the Monkey King somersaults, their distance is thousands of years, so there is no "relation" between them.

To sum up:

In the night sky, the brightness of the stars we can see with the naked eye is roughly arranged as follows: (excluding satellites, moons, meteors, etc. )

1, Venus

2. Jupiter

3. Mars

4. Sirius Also known as DOG STAR

5. Saturn

6.bighorn sheep

7. Weaver Girl 1

The above is also a rough ranking, not absolute, because the brightness of stars will change with the change of seasons. For example, sometimes Sirius is brighter than Mars, and sometimes Vega is the brightest in the sky. And these stars don't always appear in the vast night sky at the same time, they are changing at any time.

The seemingly unchanging sky is actually changing all the time.

The size of the universe is constantly changing. ...