Astronomy Facts

How many astronomy facts are there for all the objects and phenomenon in the entire universe?  To count the stars in the universe we need a one followed by 22 zeros.  Now realize that many of those stars are surrounded by plants.  Now think about all the moons that orbit the planets, and the comets, and the asteroids, and everything else in the universe.  It’s a lot to consider.  This article, which presents astronomy facts, certainly won’t contain every fact.  But these are interesting facts.

Let’s take a look at this subset of astronomy facts – the brightest stars as seen from Earth.  Let’s ignore the sun, it’s too close.  The sun is so bright that it washes out all of the other stars in the daylight sky.  For the purposes of this discussion, lower numbers for brightness mean a brighter star.  The son is approximately 26.73, with the full moon weighing in at -12.6.  All righty then, here’s the top five list.

#5 is Vega, which means eagle or vulture in Arabic. This star has a magnitude of .03, and is 25 light-years from Earth.  When looking at these astronomy facts remember that brightest from Earth doesn’t mean largest or brightest.  The sun is only a moderately bright star, but because of its proximity to the Earth it appears to be so bright.

#4 is Rigel Kentaurus, that’s Arabic for foot of the centaur.  It sits about 4 light-years from Earth and has a magnitude of -.01.

At #3, by the known astronomy facts is Arcturus.  The name means guardian of the bear in Greek.  Arcturus is 37 light-years from Earth.

Canopus sits at number two.  In reality it’s the brightest of all of these top five stars.  But because of its distance, 313 light-years from Earth, it only appears to be second brightest.  -.62 is its magnitude is seen from the planet Earth.

#1 is the Greek word for scorching, Sirius.  Sirius is also known as the Dog Star because it’s the brightest star in the constellation of Big Dog.  It’s only 9 light years from Earth.  That’s second closest of these top five.  It’s appears to be the brightest star in the sky, with a magnitude of -1.44.

There are many more astronomy facts out there.  But it’s something to consider next time you look into the sky.