There are countless stars that we can see in our night sky, and all of them are unique. Some are dim such that they are barely visible without a telescope. Others are bright and can be seen even in the most lightpolluted areas. The brightness of a star depends on its composition and its location relative to our planet.

1 Sirius, All stars shine but none do it like Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Aptly named, Sirius comes from the Greek word Seirius, meaning, "searing" or "scorching." Blazing at a magnitude of minus 1.42, it's twice as bright as any star in our sky besides the Sun.
Sirius resides in the constellation Canis Major, the Big Dog, and is commonly called the Dog Star. In ancient Greece the dawn rising of Sirius marked the hottest part of summer—the season's "dog days."
2 Canopus, Canopus resides in the constellation Carina, the Keel. Carina is one of three modernday constellations that once formed the ancient constellation of Argo Navis, named for the ship Jason and the Argonauts sailed in to search for the Golden Fleece. Two other constellations form the sail (Vela) and the stern (Puppis). In modern odysseys, spacecraft like Voyager 2 used the light from Canopus to orient themselves in the sea of space.
Canopus is a true powerhouse. Its brilliance is due more to its great luminosity than its proximity.
3 Alpha Centauri, Alpha Centauri (or Rigel Kentaurus, as it is also known) is actually a system of three stars gravitationally bound together. The two main stars are Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. The tiniest star in the system is Alpha Centauri C, a red dwarf. The Alpha Centauri system is a special one. At an average distance from us of 4.3 lightyears, these stars are our nearest known stellar neighbors. Centauri A and B are remarkably Sunlike, with Centauri A a near twin of the Sun (both are yellow G stars).
4 Arcturus, Arcturus is the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere. (The first three stars on this list are actually in the southern celestial sphere, though seasonally they are visible from the northern hemisphere of Earth). Known as the Bear Watcher, Arcturus follows Ursa Major, the Great Bear, around the north celestial pole.
5 Vega, The name Vega comes from the Arabic word for "swooping eagle" or "vulture." Vega is the luminary of Lyra, the Harp, a small but prominent constellation that is home to the Ring Nebula (M57) and the star Epsilon Lyrae. The ring is a luminous shell of gas resembling a smoke ring or a doughnut that was ejected from an old star. Epsilon Lyrae appears to the naked eye as a double star, but through a small telescope you can see that each of the two individual stars is itself a double! Epsilon Lyrae is popularly known as the "double double."
6 Capella, Capella is the primary star in the constellation Auriga (the Charioteer), and the brightest star near to the north celestial pole. Capella is actually a fascinating star system of four stars: two similar classG yellowgiant stars and a pair of much fainter reddwarf stars.
7 Rigel, On the western heel of Orion, the Hunter, rests brilliant Rigel. In myth, Rigel marks the spot where Scorpio, the Scorpion, stung Orion after a brief but fierce battle. Its Arabic name means the Foot. Rigel is a multiplestar system. The brighter component, Rigel A, is a blue supergiant that shines a remarkable 40,000 times stronger than the Sun! Although it's 775 lightyears distant, its light shines bright in our evening skies, at magnitude 0.12.
8 Procyon, Procyon resides in the small constellation of Canis Minor, the Little Dog. The constellation symbolizes the smaller of Orion's two hunting dogs (the other is, of course, Canis Major). The word procyon is Greek for "before the dog," for in the northern hemisphere, Procyon announces the rise of Sirius, the Dog Star.
9 Achernar, Achernar is derived from the Arabic phrase meaning "the end of the river," an appropriate name for a star that marks the southernmost flow of the constellation Eridanus, the River. Achernar is the hottest star on this list.
10 Betelgeuse, Don't let Betelgeuse's ranking as the tenthbrightest star in the sky fool you. Its distance—430 lightyears—hides the true scale of this supergiant.
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credits: Ron Miller
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Video Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:20 The Evolution of Stars
10:48 The two main stars
13:43 Capella
14:31 Rigel
15:07 Procyon
15:42 Achernar
16:19 Betelgeuse

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