Stars factbytes
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Name of star |
Distance from Earth |
Apparent Magnitude |
Curiosity |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Sun | 8 light minutes | Value -26.72 | A typical 2nd or possibly 3rd generation star 330,000 times larger than the Earth and made from the left-over hydrogen from previous stars that went supernova. The heavier material formed the planets including the Earth. |
| Proxima Centauri or Alpha Centauri C |
4.2 light years | Too dim to be seen with the naked eye. | A red dwarf and our closest star neighbour. Part of a triple star system with Alpha Centauri A and B. |
| Alpha Centauri A | 4.4 light years | Value -0.27 and is the 3rd brightest star in the sky after The Sun | Alpha Centauri A is very similar to The Sun and is part of a triple star system with Alpha Centauri B and C. Visible in the Southern Hemisphere. |
| Sirius A | 8.6 light years | Value -1.46 and is the 2nd brightest star in the sky after The Sun | Found close to the constellation of Orion. Part of a binary system with the dim Sirius B. Sirius A is actually 26 times brighter that The Sun. |
| Vega | 25 light years | Value 0.03 and is 5th brightest in the sky after The Sun | Found in the constellation of Lyra. Vega will be the North Star in 12,000 years because of the Earth's wobbling axis of spin. |
| Polaris | 430 light years | Value 1.97 | Currently the nearest star to the north spin axis of the Earth. Polaris is actually 2500 times brighter than The Sun. Hydrogen fusion has stopped in the star's core and is unstable and pulsating in brightnest. |
| Betelgeuse | 600 light years | Value 0.5 and the 12th brightest | Found in the constellation of Orion. A red supergaint 1000 times larger than The Sun and the biggest object our eyes will ever see. May soon go supernova. |
| Rigel | 780 light years | Value 0.12 and the 7th brightest | Found in the constellation of Orion. Produces the light of 40,000 Suns. It is dying and currently surviving on turning helium into carbon and oxygen. |
Information is approximate. Information courtesy of 
http://www.nasa.gov/
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