Historical brightest stars
This article's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. In particular: The results were produced before the new reduction of Hipparcos data (van Leeuwen, 2007) and the Gaia mission. (December 2017)
The Solar System and all of the visible stars are in different orbits about the core of the Milky Way galaxy. Thus, their relative positions change over time, and for the nearer stars this movement can be measured. As a star moves toward or away from us, its apparent brightness changes. Sirius is currently the brightest star in Earth's night sky, but it has not always been so. Canopus has persistently been the brightest star over the ages; other stars appear brighter only during relatively temporary periods, during which they are passing the Solar System at a much closer distance than Canopus. The table below lists the brightest star in Earth's night sky at each period within the last or next 5 million years.
|Epsilon Canis Majoris ||...||-4,460,000||-4,700,000||-3.99||34||430||1.50|
|Beta Canis Majoris ||-4,460,000||-3,700,000||-4,420,000||-3.65||37||500||1.99|
|Canopus (first time)||-3,700,000||-1,370,000||-3,110,000||-1.86||177||310||-0.72|
|Canopus (second time)||-950,000||-420,000||-950,000||-1.09||252||310||-0.72|
|Canopus (third time)||-160,000||-90,000||-160,000||-0.70||302||310||-0.72|
|Canopus (fourth time)||+480,000||+990,000||+480,000||-0.40||346||310||-0.72|
|NR Canis Majoris||+2,670,000||+3,050,000||+2,870,000||-0.88||14||280||5.6|
- This star is now a luminous giant. It may have been on the main sequence, approx. 1 mag fainter, during the time span given.
- This star is now a supergiant. It may have been on the main sequence, approx. 1 mag fainter, during the time span given.
- Peak magnitude is not the brightest for this star
- This peak occurs when another star is brightest