Why is it important to know some astronomy information 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…… {There must be a lot of information about astronomy you would believe – right? Consider that there are approximately 1 x 10 ^22 stars in the universe, that’s a one followed by all 22 zeros. 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. That’s a lot of data and facts and figures. This short discussion can not cover everything. This information, however, is interesting. Click over here for extra information on barska binoculars.

The info on the brightest star as seen from Earth is good information about astronomy. Let’s ignore the sun, it’s a bit close. 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 For the purposes of this discussion, lower numbers for brightness mean a brighter star. The sun is approximately 26.73, with the full moon weighing in at -12.6. OK then, here’s the top five list.

#1 is the Arabic word for eagle or vulture, Vega. 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. Our sun, for example, appears brighter than any other star, even though it’s not one of the brightest in the universe. That’s because it’s so close.

#2 goes to Rigel Kentaurus, or foot of the centaur. It sits about 4 light-years from Earth and has 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.

Canopus sits at #4. 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. -. 62 is its magnitude is seen from the planet Earth.

#5 is reserved for serious, meaning scorching in the Greek language. It’s also called the Dog Star because it’s the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (the Big Dog. {). At only 9 light-years away from Earth it is the second closest in these top five. But from Earth it has a magnitude of -1.44. That makes it easily the brightest star as seen in the night sky.

This information doesn’t even scratch the surface of information about astronomy. Think about magnitudes, however, next time you look up at the stars. You will get extra valuable information on bushnell binoculars here.