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.