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.[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 star 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]

StarStart
year		End
year		Maximum
year		Maximum
magnitude		Distance at
maximum
magnitude (LY)		Current
distance		Current
magnitude
Epsilon Canis Majoris[5]...−4,460,000−4,700,000−3.99344301.50
Beta Canis Majoris[6]−4,460,000−3,700,000−4,420,000−3.65375001.99
Canopus (first time)−3,700,000−1,370,000−3,110,000−1.86177310−0.72
Zeta Sagittarii−1,370,000−1,080,000−1,200,000−2.74889.12.60
Zeta Leporis−1,080,000−950,000−1,050,000−2.055.3703.55
Canopus (second time)−950,000−420,000−950,000−1.09[7]252310−0.72
Aldebaran−420,000−210,000−320,000−1.5421.5650.85
Capella−210,000−160,000−240,000−0.82[8]27.942.20.08
Canopus (third time)−160,000−90,000−160,000 −0.70[7]302310−0.72
Sirius (current)−90,000+210,000+60,000−1.687.88.6−1.46
Vega+210,000+480,000+290,000−0.8117.225.040.03
Canopus (fourth time)+480,000+990,000+480,000−0.40[7]346310−0.72
Beta Aurigae+990,000+1,150,000+1,190,000−0.40[8]28.582.11.9
Delta Scuti+1,150,000+1,260,000+1,250,000−1.849.21874.72
Gliese 710+1,260,000+1,460,000+1,300,000−2.71.2629.66
Gamma Draconis+1,460,000+2,030,000+1,550,000−1.3927.71542.36
Upsilon Librae+2,030,000+2,670,000+2,290,000−0.46301953.6
NR Canis Majoris+2,670,000+3,050,000+2,870,000−0.88142805.6
Omicron Herculis+3,050,000+3,870,000+3,470,000−0.63443463.83
Albireo+3,870,000...+4,610,000−0.52803903.18

References

  1. 1 2 3 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". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 595: L10. Bibcode:2016A&A...595L..10B. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201629835. ISSN 0004-6361.
  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. arXiv:1805.02644. Bibcode:2018RNAAS...2...30D. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/aac2d0. S2CID 119467738.
  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. Bibcode:2020RNAAS...4..222D. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/abd18d.
  5. ↑ This star is now a luminous giant. It may have been on the main sequence, approx. 1 mag fainter, during the time span given.
  6. ↑ This star is now a giant. It may have been on the main sequence, approx. 1 mag fainter, during the time span given.
  7. 1 2 3 Peak magnitude is not the brightest for this star
  8. 1 2 This peak occurs when another star is brightest
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