The brightest star in the night sky?
2007-03-19 08:05:14 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The brightest star visible to the eye is Sirius in the constellation Canis
2007-03-19 08:11:15 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Assuming that you mean which star, aside from our sun, appears to earthbound terrans as the brightest star, then, I agree with the first three contributors.
If you mean which star emits more photons than any other star in the known universe, then any pulsar would beat Sirius on any day --- er night, even though none of the known pulsars are visible to the naked eye because of them being so far away, and can only be detected by the exrays that we get from them, which fits your question, since xrays theoretically travel in photons just like visible light, but have a wavelength in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum to which both visible light and radio waves belong.
Since the brightness of stars tend to correlate quite nicely to the brightness of their ex-rays, and since pulsars emit a LOT of exrays, even though we cannot see their light, it has been argued that pulsars emit a LOT more light over the entire spectrum than non-pulsating stars, like Sirius.
2007-03-19 15:44:47 · answer #2 · answered by Robert G 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I believe the brightest object is the sun, moon, Venus, then some really bright stars, such as Vega, Sirius, etc.
2007-03-19 16:41:17 · answer #3 · answered by chase 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sirius.
2007-03-19 15:16:23 · answer #4 · answered by Judas Rabbi 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sirius,
I believe it has a magnitude of -1.
2007-03-19 16:08:18 · answer #5 · answered by Wedge 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sirius - Very bright, and about 8.2 lightyears away.
2007-03-19 15:15:18 · answer #6 · answered by quantumclaustrophobe 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋