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How many facts are there to be known or learned about all the objects and phenomenon in our entire universe? Just think: there are about 1 x 10 ^22 stars in the universe, that’s 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars; then there are many of those stars that have planets in orbit around them. Then consider the moons that orbit those planets and the comets and asteroids, the galaxies these stars form, the nebulae and black holes and everything else that’s out there. The amount of information and data is really quite mind-boggling. This article definitely will not contain every fact about astronomy, but they are very interesting facts nevertheless.

Shall we start by taking a look at a small aspect of astronomy: which are the brightest stars seen from the Earth? – except the Sun, that is, which is just about 250,000 times nearer than the next closest star. In fact, it is so bright that when the sky is viewed from the Earth, it’s light blinds out all the other stars in the sky during a phenomenon called daytime.

So, while reading this list, please bear in mind that according to the scale we are using, lower numbers are brighter: the Sun would be roughly -26.73, whereas the full moon is about -12.6; keeping that in mind, here are the top 5:

#5 is Vega, which is in Lyra, and which means ‘falling eagle’ in Arabic. It’s about 25 light years away from the Earth, with a magnitude of 0.04.

When you are thinking about these astronomical facts, please bear in mind that the ‘brightest from the Earth’ doesn’t mean ‘largest’ or ‘brightest’. The Sun is not the largest or brightest star in the universe or even the galaxy, yet it seems so bright to us because it is near compared to the other stars.

#4 is Rigel – a very bright, bluish-white supergiant star in the constellation Orion. It is a binary star, with an average apparent magnitude of 0.12. It’s scientific name is Beta Orionis. Rigel is Arabic for ‘foot’. It’s about four light years from Earth.

#3 is Arcturus. The name means ‘guardian of the bear’ in Latin/Greek. This star is about 37 light years from us. It is to be found in the constellation of Bootes near the Great Bear. It has a magnitude of 0.00

#2 Canopus. Of these top five, Canopus, the Greek name for the pilot of the vessel Argo made famous in the stories about Jason and the Argonauts, is the brightest. But it’s 313 light years from Earth, so it’s just second on this list as seen from Earth. It has a magnitude of -.62 as seen from this planet.

#1 is Sirius, meaning ’scorching’ in Greek. It’s also called the ‘Dog Star’ because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (‘The Big Dog’). It’s only 9 light years from Earth. That’s second closest of 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.

These facts don’t even scratch the surface on the subject of astronomy but it’s something to think about anyway the next time you look up into the sky at night.

Are you interested in Astronomy for Beginners? If you are then, please visait our website at http://astronomy.the-real-way.com

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Astronomy is the study of the galaxies. Some astrologers practice it as a serious science while for others it is an educational pastime. For this reason, whenever an astronomy picture of the day is offered to the general public, people usually jump at the chance of looking at it. There are thousands of astronomical pictures to choose from, and plenty of interesting planets to keep people enthralled.

Of course ,NASA is one of the primary sources for an astronomy picture of the day. This site, NASA.gov, shows a new picture each and every day. There is also a section that shows videos. These could be used to create your own photo site. Saturn’s moon Enceladus was the ’star’ feature on November 5, 2008.

The image was taken by a passing rocket. It gets down to details the size of a bus. The ice on this moon reflects nearly 100% of all the light that hits it. Wear sunglasses. This moon is so unusual that Cassini will continue to fly by for more images later in its mission.

NASA maintains an archive of all the astronomy image of the day dating all the way back to June 16 of 1995. It was a ‘what if’ picture of the Earth posing as a neutron star. The footage is a computer generation. The most interesting feature is that the constellation Orion is visible twice. Even light from behind a neutron star is visible because the dense star bends the light all the way around it. This causes some double vision.

The entry for September 8th, 1995 was an amazing image of the central part of the ‘Milky Way’ galaxy taken by NASA’s COBE satellite. This area is generally not visible because of the dust obscuring it. But COBE scans in infrared, so produced that amazing picture of our very symmetrical galaxy.

The astronomy picture of the day was the same on January 1st, 2000 and January 1st, 2001. The explanation why both dates displayed this image is that the majority of people thought of the year 2000 as the first year of the third millennium.

However, the third millennium actually began on January 1st, 2001. NASA reasoned it was better to just go with both. apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010101.html displays man’s view of the universe as it progressed from objects orbiting around the Earth all the way to the Big Bang creating the universe as we know it.

NASA has thousands more days with their very own unique astronomy picture of the day. Visit their website, NASA.gov to see them.

Astronomy is the study of the galaxies. Some treat it as a serious science and others as an interesting hobby. That is why, whenever an astronomy picture of the day is offered to the public, people usually jump at the chance. There are plenty of astronomical pictures to choose from, and plenty of interesting celestial objects to keep people interested.

Of course ,NASA is one of the primary sources for an astronomy picture of the day. This site, NASA.gov, shows a new picture each and every day. There is also a section that shows movies. These could be used to create your own picture site. For example, Saturn’s moon Enceladus was the feature with “star billing” on November 5, 2008.

The image was taken by a passing spacecraft. It gets down to details the size of a bus. The ice on this moon reflects nearly 100% of all the light that hits it. Wear sunglasses. This moon is so interesting that Cassini will continue to fly by for more pictures later in its mission.

NASA retains an archive of all the astronomy photo of the day dating all the way back to June 16th, 1995. It was a ‘what if’ picture of the Earth posing as a neutron star. The picture is a computer generation. The most fascinating feature is that the constellation of Orion is visible twice. This is because even light from behind a neutron star is visible since the dense star bends the light around it. This causes some objects to be seen twice.

The entry for the 8th of September, 1995 was an amazing picture of the internal section of the ‘Milky Way’ galaxy taken by NASA’s COBE satellite. This area is normally invisible because of the dust obscuring it. But COBE scans in infrared, so produced that fantastic picture of our very symmetrical galaxy.

The astronomy picture of the day was identical on January 1st, 2000 and January 1st, 2001, the reason being because both dates shared this picture is that the majority of people considered the year 2000 as the first year of the third millennium.

However, the third millennium actually started on January 1st, 2001. NASA reasoned it was just easier to just do it on both dates. apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010101.html depicts man’s view of the universe as it progressed from mere objects orbiting the Earth, all the way to the ‘Big Bang’ creating the universe as we know it today.

NASA has a lot more days with their own astronomy picture of the day. Visit the web site, NASA.gov to see them.