Some Facts on Astronomy

Posted under environment by Colin Jones

How much information on astronomy should there be for all the objects and phenomenon in the entire universe? Consider that there are somewhere around 1 x 10 ^22 stars in the universe, that’s a one followed by 22 zeros. Then consider that many of those stars have planets revolving around them. Then consider all the moons that orbit those planets, then the comets and asteroids, the galaxies these stars form, the nebulae and black holes and everything else out there. The amount of information and data is staggering. This article, which presents astronomy facts, certainly won’t contain every fact. But these are quite interesting facts nevertheless.

We will start by taking a look at a small section of astronomy: “the brightest stars seen from the Earth”. That is excepting the Sun which is roughly 250,000 times nearer than the next nearest star. In fact, it is so bright that when the sky is viewed from the Earth, it blinds out all the other stars in the sky during a phenomenon called daytime.

So, keep in mind while reading this list that according to the scale used, lower numbers are brighter. The Sun would be about -26.73, whereas the full moon is -12.6; bearing that in mind, here are the top 5:

#5 is Vega, which is in Lyra, and which means ‘falling eagle’ in Arabic. It’s about 25 light years away from the Earth, with a magnitude of 0.04.

When considering these astronomical facts, please remember that ‘brightest from Earth’ doesn’t mean largest or brightest. The Sun is not the largest or brightest star in the universe or even the galaxy, yet it appears so bright because it is so near compared to other stars.

#4 is Rigel - a very bright, bluish-white supergiant star in the constellation Orion. It is a binary star, with an average apparent magnitude of 0.12. It’s scientific name is Beta Orionis. Rigel is Arabic for ‘foot’. It’s about four light years from Earth.

#3 is Arcturus. The translates as ‘guardian of the bear’ from the Greek. This star is about 37 light years away from us. It is situated in the constellation of Bootes, close to The Great Bear. It has a magnitude of 0.00

#2 Canopus - the Greek name of the pilot of the sailing ship Argo in the stories of Jason and the Argonauts, is the brightest, however, because it is 313 light years from Earth, it’s only second in this list of the five brightest stars seen from Earth. It has a magnitude of -.62.

#1 is Sirius, meaning ’scorching’ in Greek. It’s also called the ‘Dog Star’ because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (’The Big Dog’). It’s only 9 light years from Earth. That’s second closest of these top five. But from Earth it has a magnitude of -1.44. That makes it easily the brightest star as seen in the night sky.

This information doesn’t even scratch the surface on the subject of astronomy facts but it’s something to consider next time you look into the night sky.

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