Astronomy:Historical brightest stars

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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.

Working out exactly which stars were or will be the brightest at any given point in the past or future is difficult since it requires precise 3D proper motions of large numbers of stars and precise distances, as well as stellar evolution (for massive stars).[1] This information only started to become available with the 1997 Hipparcos satellite data release.[1] Jocelyn Tomkin used this data to compile a list of brightest stars in Earth's night sky at each period within the last or next 5 million years.[1] Re-analysis of the Hipparcos data and new data from the Gaia spacecraft reveal omissions and revisions necessary in the list. For example, it omits Gliese 710 which in about 1.35 million years is expected to be close enough to have a magnitude of −2.7,[2] as confirmed by the Gaia spacecraft.[3][4]

Table

Star Start
year		 End
year		 Maximum
year		 Maximum
magnitude		 Distance at
maximum
magnitude (ly)		 Current
distance		 Current
magnitude
Epsilon Canis Majoris (Adhara)[lower-alpha 1] ... −4,460,000 −4,700,000 −3.99[lower-alpha 2] 34 430 1.50
Beta Canis Majoris (Mirzam)[lower-alpha 3] −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
???[lower-alpha 4] −1,370,000 −1,080,000 ... ... ... ... ...
Zeta Leporis (Darlugal) −1,080,000 −950,000 −1,050,000 −2.05 5.3 70 3.55
Canopus (second time) −950,000 −420,000 −950,000 −1.09[lower-alpha 5] 252 310 −0.72
Aldebaran −420,000 −210,000 −320,000 −1.54 21.5 65 0.85
Capella −210,000 −160,000 −240,000 −0.82[lower-alpha 6] 27.9 42.2 0.08
Canopus (third time) −160,000 −90,000 −160,000 −0.70[lower-alpha 5] 302 310 −0.72
Sirius (current) −90,000 +210,000 +60,000 −1.68 7.8 8.6 −1.46
Vega +210,000 +480,000 +290,000 −0.81 17.2 25.04 0.03
Canopus (fourth time) +480,000 +990,000 +480,000 −0.40[lower-alpha 5] 346 310 −0.72
Beta Aurigae (Menkalinan) +990,000 +1,150,000 +1,190,000 −0.40[lower-alpha 6] 28.5 82.1 1.9
Delta Scuti +1,150,000 +1,260,000 +1,250,000 −1.84 9.2 187 4.72
Gliese 710 +1,260,000[lower-alpha 7] +1,460,000[lower-alpha 7] +1,300,000 −2.7 0.16 62 9.66
Gamma Draconis (Eltanin) +1,460,000 +2,030,000 +1,550,000 −1.39 27.7 154 2.36
Upsilon Librae +2,030,000 +2,670,000 +2,290,000 −0.46 30 195 3.6
NR Canis Majoris +2,670,000 +3,050,000 +2,870,000 −0.88 14 280 5.6
Omicron Herculis +3,050,000 +3,870,000 +3,470,000 −0.63 44 346 3.83
Albireo +3,870,000 ... +4,610,000 −0.52 80 390 3.18

Table of candidate titleholders of the brightest star

The scientific accuracy of the proper motions of these stars may not be fully confirmed.

Star Start
year		 End
year		 Maximum
year		 Maximum
magnitude		 Distance at
maximum
magnitude (ly)		 Current
distance		 Current
magnitude
Algol[6] ... ... −7,300,000 −2.5 9.8 94 2.12
HD 49995 ... ... −4,034,000 −3.28 1.70 439 8.78
HD 102928[lower-alpha 8] ... ... −3,940,000 −5.51 1.31 219 5.62
Gamma Microscopii[7] ... ... −3,800,000 −3.00 6 223 4.68
HD 179939 ... ... −3,020,000 −3.27 2.65 334 7.23
HD 7977[8][lower-alpha 9] ... ... −2,470,000?? −4.48 to −11.93?? 0.0158-0.49?? 246.9 9.04
Rho Puppis (Tureis) [9][lower-alpha 10] ... ... −394,000 −1.01 11.6 63.5 2.68
Delta Geminorum (Wasat) [10] … … 1,100,000 −1.25 6.7 60.45 3.53
UCAC4 689-035468[11] ... ... 8,316,000 −2.24[lower-alpha 11] 0.81 643? 12.265

Notes

  1. ↑ This star is now a luminous giant. It may have been on the main sequence, approx. 1 mag fainter, during the time span given.
  2. ↑ This star may have had a magnitude of -4.13, around 4,400,000 million years ago instead.The apparent magnitude was calculated via the equation mv = Mv−5+5 • log(d), where mv is the apparent magnitude, Mv is the absolute magnitude and d is the distance in parsecs. Values for Mv and d of −3.97 and 9.3 pc were used.[5]
  3. ↑ This star is now a giant. It may have been on the main sequence, approx. 1 mag fainter, during the time span given.
  4. ↑ It is unknown which star(s) held the title of brightest star during this period. This is due to Zeta Sagittarii, the titleholder on Tomkin's list, being revealed to have been further away, and thus dimmer than expected. It is likely that both Canopus and Zeta Leporis held the title during this period, but the exact start and end dates cannot be determined.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Peak magnitude is not the brightest for this star
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 This peak occurs when another star is brightest
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 It is known that Gliese 710 will become the titleholder, however the exact start and end years may be approximate due to the sources not providing exact dates.
  8. ↑ Non-single star with RUWE = 3.93.
  9. ↑ Possible binary with RUWE score 2.01
  10. ↑ Highly unlikely to have been bright enough to be the brightest star, but theoretically possible as the brightness of Aldebaran at the moment is not stated.
  11. ↑ The apparent magnitude was calculated via the equation mv = Mv−5+5 • log(d), where mv is the apparent magnitude, Mv is the absolute magnitude and d is the distance in parsecs. Values for Mv and d of 5.791 and 197.16 pc were used.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Tomkin, Jocelyn (April 1998). "Once and Future Celestial Kings". Sky and Telescope 95 (4): 59–63. Bibcode: 1998S&T....95d..59T.  – based on computations from HIPPARCOS data. (The calculations exclude stars whose distance or proper motion is uncertain.) PDF
  2. ↑ Berski, Filip; Dybczyński, Piotr A. (2016-11-01). "Gliese 710 will pass the Sun even closer" (in en). Astronomy & Astrophysics 595: L10. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201629835. ISSN 0004-6361. Bibcode: 2016A&A...595L..10B. https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2016/11/aa29835-16/aa29835-16.html. 
  3. ↑ de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl; de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos (10 May 2018). "An Independent Confirmation of the Future Flyby of Gliese 710 to the Solar System Using Gaia". Research Notes of the AAS 2 (2): 30. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/aac2d0. Bibcode: 2018RNAAS...2...30D. 
  4. ↑ de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl; de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos (10 December 2020). "An Update on the Future Flyby of Gliese 710 to the Solar System Using Gaia EDR3: Slightly Closer and a Tad Later than Previous Estimates". Research Notes of the AAS 4 (12): 222. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/abd18d. Bibcode: 2020RNAAS...4..222D. 
  5. ↑ Shull, J. Michael; Curran, Rachel M.; Topping, Michael W. (2025). "Epsilon Canis Majoris: The Brightest Extreme-ultraviolet Source with Surprisingly Low Interstellar Absorption". The Astrophysical Journal 979 (1): 21. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad9b8b. Bibcode: 2025ApJ...979...21S. 
  6. ↑ Garcia-Sanchez, J.; Preston, R. A.; Jones, D. L.; Lestrade, J.-F.; Weissman, P. R.; Latham, D. W. (25 August 1997). "A Search for Stars Passing Close to the Sun". Kyoto, Japan: IAU. Bibcode: 1997IAUJD..14E..51G. 
  7. ↑ Kaler, James B.. "Gamma Mic". University of Illinois. http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/gammamic.html. 
  8. ↑ Dybczyński, Piotr A. et al. (2024-05-22). "HD 7977 and its possible influence on Solar System bodies". Astronomy & Astrophysics 685: A171. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202348995. Bibcode: 2024A&A...685A.171D. https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2024/05/aa48995-23/aa48995-23.html. Retrieved 2026-05-26. 
  9. ↑ García-Sánchez, J.; Weissman, P. R.; Preston, R. A.; Jones, D. L.; Lestrade, J.-F.; Latham, D. W.; Stefanik, R. P.; Paredes, J. M. (2001). "Stellar encounters with the solar system". Astronomy & Astrophysics 379 (2): 634–659. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20011330. ISSN 0004-6361. Bibcode: 2001A&A...379..634G. http://www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20011330. 
  10. ↑ García-Sánchez, J. et al. (November 2001), "Stellar encounters with the solar system", Astronomy and Astrophysics 379 (2): 634–659, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20011330, Bibcode: 2001A&A...379..634G 
  11. ↑ Bailer-Jones, C. A. L. (2022-08-01). "Stars That Approach within One Parsec of the Sun: New and More Accurate Encounters Identified in Gaia Data Release 3". The Astrophysical Journal Letters 935 (1): L9. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac816a. ISSN 2041-8205. Bibcode: 2022ApJ...935L...9B. 



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