BRIGHTEST OBJECTS IN SPACE THAT YOU CAN SEE WITH YOUR NAKED EYE

CARINA NEBULA

A nebula is an interstellar cloud filled with dust and ionized gases.

The Carina Nebula is especially notable for hosting the

brightest star in the Milky Way Galaxy – WR25. Though it’s

6,300,000 times brighter than our sun, the star doesn’t make

it onto this list due to its distance from Earth – about 7,500

light years. (In contrast, the sun is .000016 light years

away from us.)

SPICA

Though we can see other galaxies and nebulae in the

night sky, such as our own Milky Way Galaxy and the

Orion Nebula, Pleiades, and Andromeda Galaxy, in terms

of apparent magnitude, they’re dimmer than the other

celestial objects on this list. The first star on our list, Spica

is the brightest star in the Virgo constellation. Well,

technically, it’s two stars so close together they look like

an egg-shaped star.

ANTARES

The third furthest star on our list at a distance of 600

light years, Antares is often called the “heart of the scorpion”

as it’s the brightest star in the Scorpius constellation.

Antares is most visible around May 31st when it is completely

opposed to the sun, rising at dusk and setting at dawn.

ALDEBARAN

The star Aldebaran (not to be confused with the Star Wars

planet of Princess Leia, Alderaan) is the brightest star in the

Taurus constellation. Its name comes from the Arabic

words for “the Follower”. Aldebaran is remarkably easy to

find in the night sky, just find Orion’s belt and follow the

three stars from left to right (or right to left if you’re in the

Southern Hemisphere) to find the next brightest star.

Humanity will have a closer look at Aldebaran when the

Pioneer 10 probe passes by in two million years.

Yippee. Can’t wait.

ALPHA CRUCIS (ACRUX)

One of the most recognizable figures in the night sky is the

Southern Cross, also known as the constellation Crux.

Its brightest star, Alpha Crucis (Acrux, for short) can be

found on the flags of five countries: Australia, Papua New Guinea,

Samoa, New Zealand, and Brazil. To find it, look for the

“bottom” of the Southern Cross.

ALTAIR

The twelfth brightest star on our list (though 20th brightest

celestial body), Altair is the second most luminous point

of the Summer Triangle to us. It’s also the nearest star in

the Triangle to Earth. (Deneb, the dimmest star to us, is

214 times further away and 7,000 times brighter than Altair

when seen from the same distance away.

BETA CENTAURI (AGENA, HADAR)

Composed of three stars, the trinary star system of Beta

Centauri has historically been one of the most important

and brightest objects in space. Navigators drew a line

through Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri, the two ends of

the “Pointers” to the Southern Cross, to determine which

direction was south. The Cross is used the same in the

Southern Hemisphere as Polaris (the North Star) is in the

Northern, as a stable reference point.

BETELGEUSE

Don’t say it three times! The star Betelgeuse is so large that

if it were in the place of our sun, its diameter would extend out

to somewhere between Mars and Jupiter. This massive

supergiant has the most variable visual magnitude and can be

seen nearly everywhere from fall to spring. Look for a bright

red star perpendicular to Orion’s belt.

ACHERNAR

Achernar is the bluest (and hottest) object in space that we can

see with the naked eye. Interestingly, due to its orbital path,

Achernar was not visible to most of our predecessors,

including the Ancient Egyptians. Due to its extremely fast

rotational speed, Archernar is the least spherical shape in

our Milky Way Galaxy.