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YOU CAN SEE MORE STARS IN THE COUNTRY On a clear, moonless night using just your eyes, about 300 stars are visible from the city, and about 1,000 in a darker small-town sky. In the darkest countryside about 3,000 are visible; use binoculars and you’ll see more than 40,000. Why do some stars shine brig

ADHARA Epsilon CMa Part of Canis Major, Sirius (or the “Dog Star”) is the brightest star in the sky, burning 20 times brighter than the sun.

POLLUX Beta Gem

BETELGEUSE Alpha Ori ALL THE BRIGHTEST STARS IN THE NIGHT SKY ARE LABELED ALPHA Stars are named within a constellation in order of brightness using the Greek alphabet, so the brightest stars begin with alpha, the next brightest with beta, and so on. Many of the stars we can see also have historical names, such

SIRIUS Alpha CMa Betelgeuse in the Orion constellation is one of the top ten brightest stars in the night sky. Seen in Earth’s Southern Hemisphere, Scorpius has a sting in its tail, killing Orion in Greek mythology. Stars in a constellation are close togeth

FAST FACTS EACH STAR THE BIG DIPPER IS CONSTANTLY 50,000 years ago MOVING THE BIG DIPPER IN SPACE Today Stars are constantly moving in Earth’s sky, but it takes tens of thousands of years before new positions are noticeable and constellations have new shapes. Yet it is possible to see changes since the ancient

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