Why do you think it is important to have some knowledge of astronomy}?what is the value of knowing a bunch of astronomy facts? The simple answer is because its a subject that a large number of people are interested in – and if you want to be able to talk to them about it, the odd fact never goes astray. In fact, its really important to know at least a few astronomy facts – you never know when you will be needing them – it might be at a party, at your school or while you are trying to impress that cute girl – who knows the exact reason – but it is very likely that you will need them at some point or other…… Have you any idea how much astronomical data is physically available?? To count the stars in the universe you need a one followed by 22 zeros and an awful lot of time. Then consider that many of those stars have planets surrounding them.
Now think about all the moons that orbit the planets, and the comets, and the asteroids, and everything else in the universe. The number of facts and amount of data is staggering. Not every piece of information will be presented here. But these are some of the interesting facts. Click over here for more info on barska binoculars.
Looking at it simply from the point of view of the brightest stars we can see from earth is one way to approach it. That’s discounting the Sun which is about 250,000 times closer than the next nearest star. We get so much light from the sun that when it shines none of the other stars can be seen. {The sun is so bright that it washes out all of the other stars in the daylight sky Keep in mind that in the scale for the magnitudes given, lower numbers are brighter. The sun would be about -26.73, while the full moon is -12.6. OK then, here’s the top five list.
#1 goes to Vega, Arabic for vulture. This star has a magnitude of .03, and is 25 light-years from Earth. Just because a star looks brighter from Earth doesn’t mean it’s really brighter. The Sun is not the largest or brightest star in the universe or even the galaxy, yet it appears so bright because it is so near compared to other stars.
#2 is the Arabic foot of the centaur, Rigel Kentaurus. It’s about four light years from Earth with a magnitude of -.01.
At #3, by the known information about astronomy is Arcturus. In Greek that means guardian of the bear. This star is 37 light years from us.
Number 4 is Canopus. In reality it’s the brightest of all of these top five stars. However, it’s 313 light-years away from Earth, so it looks second brightest as seen from this planet. -. its magnitude is 62 as seen from the earth.
#5 is the Greek word for scorching, Sirius. Sirius is also known as the Dog Star because it’s the brightest star in the constellation of Big Dog. Only 9 light-years separate Sirius and the earth, that’s the second nearest in this top five list. It’s appears to be the brightest star in the sky, with a magnitude of -1.44.
This information doesn’t even scratch the surface of information about astronomy. But it’s something to consider next time you look into the sky. You can gain extra info on barska binoculars here.
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