Part 2 — THE TWENTY BRIGHTEST STARS

If you have seen everything I have described so far, you have reason to be happy. For now you know sixteen of the most famous constellations and fifteen of the twenty brightest stars. There are only twenty stars of the first magnitude. "Magnitude" ought to mean size, but it doesn't. It means brightness—or rather the apparent brightness—of the stars when seen by us. The word magnitude was used in the old days before telescopes, when people thought the brighter a star is the bigger it must be. Now we know that the nearer a star is to us the brighter it is, and the farther away the fainter. Some of the bright stars are comparatively near us, some are very far. Deneb and Canopus are so far away that it takes over three hundred years for their light to reach us. What whoppers they must be—many times as big as our sun.

Here is a full list of the twenty stars of the first magnitude arranged in the order of their brightness. You will find this table very useful.

StarsPronouncedConstellationInteresting facts

Siriussir´i-usBig DogBrightest star. Nearest star visible in Northern hemisphere

Canopus*ca-no´pusShip ArgoPerhaps the largest body in universe

Alpha Centauri*al´fa sen-taw´reCentaurNearest star. Light four years away

Vegave´gaLyreBrightest star in the Northern sky. Bluish

Capellaca-pell´aCharioteerRivals Vega, but opposite the pole. Yellowish

Arcturusark-tu´rusHerdsmanSwiftest of the bright stars. 200 miles a second

Rigelre´jelOrionBrightest star in Orion. White star in left foot

Procyonpro´si-onLittle DogBefore the dog. Rises a little before Sirius

Achernar*a-ker´narRiver PoMeans the end of the river

Beta Centauri*ba´ta sen-taw´reCentaurThis and its mate point to the Southern Cross

Altairal-tare´EagleHelps you find Vega and Northern Cross

Betelgeusebet-el-guz´OrionMeans "armpit." The red star in the right shoulder

Alpha Crucis*al´fa cru´sisSouthern CrossAt the base of the most famous Southern constellation

Aldebaranal-deb´a-ranBullThe red eye in the V

Polluxpol´luxTwinsBrighter than Castor

Spicaspi´caVirginMeans ear of wheat

Antaresan-ta´rezScorpionRed star. Name means "looks like Mars"

Fomalhautfo´mal-oSouthern FishThe lonely star in the Southern sky

Denebden´ebSwanTop of Northern Cross, or tail of Swan

Regulusreg´u-lusLionThe end of the handle of the Sickle

The five stars marked * belong to the Southern hemisphere, and we can never see them unless we travel far south. Last winter I went to Florida and saw Canopus, but to see the Southern Cross you should cross the Tropic of Cancer.