Brightest Stars

The brightest stars in Earth's night sky, ranked by apparent magnitude. Lower magnitude = brighter. The Sun has an apparent magnitude of -26.74; the faintest stars visible to the naked eye are around magnitude 6.

#StarConstellationMag
1
Sirius		Canis Major-1.46
2
Canopus		Carina-0.74
3
Rigil Kentaurus		Centaurus-0.27
4
Alpha Centauri		Centaurus-0.27
5
Alpha Centauri AB		Centaurus-0.27
6
Alpha Centauri AB system		Centaurus-0.27
7
Arcturus		Bootes-0.05
8
Alpha Centauri A		Centaurus-0.01
9
Vega		Lyra0.03
10
Capella		Auriga0.08
11
Rigel		Orion0.13
12
Procyon		Canis Minor0.34
13
Achernar		Eridanus0.46
14
Betelgeuse		Orion0.5
15
Hadar		Centaurus0.61
16
Acrux		Crux0.76
17
Altair		Aquila0.77
18
Aldebaran		Taurus0.86
19
Spica		Virgo0.97
20
Antares		Scorpius1.06
21
Pollux		Gemini1.14
22
Fomalhaut		Piscis Austrinus1.16
23
Deneb		Cygnus1.25
24
Mimosa		Crux1.25
25
Alpha Centauri B		Centaurus1.33
26
Regulus		Leo1.4
27
Adhara		Canis Major1.5
28
Castor		Gemini1.58
29
Shaula		Scorpius1.62
30
Gacrux		Crux1.64
31
Bellatrix		Orion1.64
32
Elnath		Taurus1.65
33
Miaplacidus		Carina1.69
34
Alnilam		Orion1.69
35
Alnair		Grus1.74
36
Alnitak		Orion1.77
37
Alioth		Ursa Major1.77
38
Mirfak		Perseus1.79
39
Dubhe		Ursa Major1.79
40
Alpha Persei		Perseus1.79
41
Gamma Velorum		Vela1.83
42
Wezen		Canis Major1.84
43
Kaus Australis		Sagittarius1.85
44
Epsilon Sagittarii		Sagittarius1.85
45
Avior		Carina1.86
46
Alkaid		Ursa Major1.86
47
Sargas		Scorpius1.87
48
Menkalinan		Auriga1.9
49
Atria		Triangulum Australe1.92
50
Alpha Trianguli Australis		Triangulum Australe1.92

About Apparent Magnitude

Apparent magnitude measures how bright a star appears from Earth. The scale is logarithmic and inverted: lower values mean brighter objects. Each step of 1 magnitude represents a brightness factor of about 2.512. A magnitude 1 star is exactly 100 times brighter than a magnitude 6 star. Negative magnitudes indicate extremely bright objects — Sirius shines at -1.46, making it the brightest star in Earth's night sky.