The Brightest Star In The Night Sky Rises Today (And No, It’s Not The North Star)

[flash13]

The Brightest Star In The Night Sky Rises Today (And No, It’s Not The North Star)

Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.

Getty

 

Still doing quizzes on Zoom? If you are—and you’re having to make-up question—here’s one almost everyone gets wrong:

 

What’s the brightest star in the night sky?

 

The most popular answer is always the same: the North Star.

 

No, the brightest star in the night sky is not the North Star.

 

It’s Sirius, a bright, blue star that this weekend becomes briefly visible in the daytime sky for the first time since winter for those of us in the northern

 

hemisphere.

Is the North Star the brightest star in the night sky?

No—it’s actually the 48th brightest. Only visible from the northern hemisphere, the North Star sits directly above the North Pole.

 

It’s also called Polaris. Since Earth’s axis points appear to point directly at it, Polaris never appears to move, only revolve.

 

It always sits above due north, and its height above the horizon gives away your latitude – your distance from the equator (at the equator, you can’t see

 

Polaris, and at the North Pole, it’s directly above your head).

 

In any star-trail image taken from the northern [-]

hemisphere Polaris, the North Star, will be the at the center—it’s the only star that never appears to shift its position. (Photo by: VW Pics/Universal

Images Group via Getty Image

Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky

Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major, shines at magnitude -1.46, so has long been a well-known star to many ancient cultures. It’s the fifth-closest star

 

system to our own. It’s best described as Sirius A since a second star, Sirius B, is also part of what is a binary system.

Why this weekend’s ‘heliacal rising’ of Sirius is significant

This weekend is the heliacal rising—the annual first appearance—of Sirius. On Saturday it became briefly visible above the eastern horizon just before

 

sunrise after six months of not being visible at all.

 

As an occasion to mark harvests, the heliacal rising of Sirius has been important to several cultures, including the ancient Egyptians.

Why Sirius is called the ‘Dog Star’

As well as Alpha Canis Majoris, Sirius is also called the “Dog Star.” Its name “Sirius” comes from the Greek word for “glowing” or “scorching,” while “Dog

 

Star” comes from it being the brightest star (by far) in the constellation of Canis Major, the big hunting dog.

 

Ever heard the phrase the “dog days of summer”? That relates to the hottest days of summer in the northern hemisphere—right now. That’s because it

 

was thought that the presence of Sirius in the daytime sky close to the Sun intensified the heat of the day. That’s not how it works at all, but the name

 

stuck.

 

The constellation of Canis Major, the big hunting [-]

dog of Orion. (Photo by: VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

 

The 5 brightest stars in the night sky

The North Star doesn’t get close to the five brightest stars in the night sky, which are:

 

1. Sirius (visible from both hemispheres).
2. Canopus (only visible from close to the equator and the southern hemisphere).
3. Alpha Centauri (only visible from the southern hemisphere).
4. Arcturus (easily seen from the northern hemisphere all spring and summer).
5. Vega (easily seen from the northern hemisphere all summer and fall).

 

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

 

Source