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  2. List of brightest stars - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_brightest_stars

    Stellar brightness is based on the apparent visual magnitude as perceived by the human eye, from the brightest stars of 1st magnitude to the faintest at 6th magnitude. Since the invention of the optical telescope and the documenting of binary stars and multiple star systems, stellar brightness could be expressed as either individual (separate ...

  3. Mensa (constellation) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensa_(constellation)

    One of the faintest constellations in the night sky, Mensa contains no apparently bright stars—the brightest, Alpha Mensae, is barely visible in suburban skies. Part of the Large Magellanic Cloud , several star clusters and a quasar lie in the area covered by the constellation, and at least three of its star systems have been found to have ...

  4. Apparent magnitude - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_magnitude

    The brightest stars in the night sky were said to be of first magnitude (m = 1), whereas the faintest were of sixth magnitude (m = 6), which is the limit of human visual perception (without the aid of a telescope).

  5. Limiting magnitude - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limiting_magnitude

    The limiting magnitude for naked eye visibility refers to the faintest stars that can be seen with the unaided eye near the zenith on clear moonless nights. The quantity is most often used as an overall indicator of sky brightness, in that light polluted and humid areas generally have brighter limiting magnitudes than remote desert or high altitude areas.

  6. Magnitude (astronomy) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnitude_(astronomy)

    Note that the brighter the star, the smaller the magnitude: Bright "first magnitude" stars are "1st-class" stars, while stars barely visible to the naked eye are "sixth magnitude" or "6th-class". The system was a simple delineation of stellar brightness into six distinct groups but made no allowance for the variations in brightness within a group.

  7. First-magnitude star - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-magnitude_star

    First-magnitude stars are the brightest stars in the night sky, with apparent magnitudes lower (i.e. brighter) than +1.50. [1] [2] Hipparchus, in the 1st century BC, introduced the magnitude scale. He allocated the first magnitude to the 20 brightest stars and the sixth magnitude to the faintest stars visible to the naked eye.

  8. List of most luminous stars - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_luminous_stars

    The first list shows a few of the known stars with an estimated luminosity of 1 million L ☉ or greater, including the stars in open cluster, OB association and H II region. The majority of stars thought to be more than 1 million L ☉ are shown, but the list is incomplete. The second list gives some notable stars for the purpose of comparison.

  9. Cancer (constellation) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_(constellation)

    Cancer is one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac and is located in the Northern celestial hemisphere.Its name is Latin for crab and it is commonly represented as one. . Cancer is a medium-size constellation with an area of 506 square degrees and its stars are rather faint, its brightest star Beta Cancri having an apparent magnitude of 3