The 25 brightest stars as seen from Earth
Star
Name
RA
h m
Dec
° ′
Apparent
magnitude
Spectral
type
Parallax
arcsec (″)
Distance
l.y.
Absolute
magnitude a
Sun
—
—
–26.78
G2 V
—
—
4.82
Alpha Canis Majoris
Sirius
06 45.1
–16 43
–1.46
A1 V
0.37921
8.60
1.43
Alpha Carinae
Canopus
06 24.0
–52 42
–0.74
A9 II
0.01055
309
–5.62
Alpha Centauri
Rigil Kentaurus
14 39.6
–60 50
–0.27 b
G2 V + KI V
0.743
4.39
4.08 b
Alpha Boötis
Arcturus
14 15.7
+19 11
–0.05
K1.5 III
0.08883
36.72
–0.31
Alpha Lyrae
Vega
18 36.9
+38 47
0.03 (var.)
A0 Va
0.13023
25.04
0.60
Alpha Aurigae
Capella
05 16.7
+46 00
0.08
G6 III + G2 III
0.07620
42.80
–0.51
Beta Orionis
Rigel
05 14.5
–08 12
0.13 (var.)
B8 Ia
0.00378
863
–6.98
Alpha Canis Minoris
Procyon
07 39.3
+05 14
0.37
F5 IV-V
0.28456
11.46
2.64
Alpha Orionis
Betelgeuse
05 55.2
+07 24
0.4 (var.)
M1-M2 Ia-Iab
0.00655
498
–5.52
Alpha Eridani
Achernar
01 37.7
–57 14
0.46 (var.)
B6 V or B3 V
0.02339
139
–2.69
Beta Centauri
Hadar
14 03.8
–60 22
0.58 (var.)
B1 III
0.00832
392
–4.82
Alpha Aquilae
Altair
19 50.8
+08 52
0.76 (var.)
A7 V
0.19495
16.73
2.21
Alpha Crucis
Acrux
12 26.6
–63 06
0.77 c
B0.5 IV + B1 V
0.01013
322
–4.20 c
Alpha Tauri
Aldebaran
04 35.9
+16 31
0.86 (var.)
K5 III
0.04894
66.64
–0.69
Alpha Scorpii
Antares
16 29.4
–26 26
0.91 (var.)
M0.5 Iab or
M1.5 Iab–Ib
0.00589
554
–5.24
Alpha Virginis
Spica
13 25.2
–11 10
0.97 (var.)
B1 V
0.01306
250
–3.45
Beta Geminorum
Pollux
07 45.3
+28 02
1.14
K0 IIIb
0.09654
33.78
1.06
Alpha Piscis Austrini
Fomalhaut
22 57.7
–29 37
1.16
A4 V or A3 Va
0.12981
25.13
1.73
Beta Crucis
Mimosa
12 47.7
–59 41
1.25 (var.)
B1 IV or
B0.5 III
0.01171
279
–3.41
Alpha Cygni
Deneb
20 41.4
+45 17
1.25 (var.)
A2 Ia
0.00231
1412
–6.93
Alpha Leonis
Regulus
10 08.4
+11 58
1.40
B8 IV or B7 V
0.04113
79.30
–0.53
Epsilon Canis Majoris
Adhara
06 58.6
–28 58
1.50
B1.5 II or B2 II
0.00805
405
–3.97
Alpha Geminorum
Castor
07 34.6
+31 53
1.58 d
A1 V + A2 V or
A2 V + A5 V
0.06412
50.87
0.61 d
Lambda Scorpii
Shaula
17 33.6
–37 06
1.62 (var.)
B2 IV
0.00571
571
–4.60
Gamma Crucis
Gacrux
12 31.2
–57 07
1.64
M3.5 III
0.03683
88.56
–0.53
a Ignoring interstellar absorption.
b Combined magnitude of double star. The individual components of Alpha Centauri are 0.01 and 1.33.
c Combined magnitude of double star. The individual components are approx. 1.3 and 1.8 (published figures are inconsistent).
d Combined magnitude of double star. The individual components of Castor are 1.93 and 2.97.
Sources:
Values for apparent magnitude, spectral type, and parallax are from the SIMBAD database. Apparent magnitudes were calculated from these figures, ignoring interstellar absorption. Alternative values for spectral type come from the list of bright stars in the Astronomical Almanac.
Note that many of the stars in this table are variable in brightness to some degree, so their precise order at any given time may differ depending whether they are brighter or fainter than average.
