What is the Brightest Star in the Night Sky?

It's a very common misconception that Polaris (the North Star) is the brightest star in the night sky.  As a grad student, I once had a phone call from a random person asking if the very bright star they saw setting in the west was the North Star.  There were several things wrong with that question.

1.  The North Star is in the north, not the west.  

2.  The North Star remains stationary in the sky.  It doesn't rise or set.

3.  The North Star is not particularly bright, at least compared to other stars we see in the night sky.

4.  The 'star' the person was referring to wasn't a star.  It was a planet.  Venus was setting in the west.  

So why is there a big misconception concerning Polaris?  If you ask me, it's because the random person is not familiar with the names of stars.  If you ask anyone to name a star, the first, and possibly only star name that comes to mind is the North Star.  It's then easy to leap to the conclusion that if the name is recognized it must be important.  And the North Star is important, but not because it's bright.  It's important because it sits on our sky directly above the North Pole (directly above Earth's axis).  As Earth rotates the other stars appear to move east to west across the sky, but the North Star remains stationary. 

There are a couple of other interesting facts about the North Star.  It's part of the Little Dipper in the sky.  It's the star at the end of the "handle".  In terms of brightness relative to other stars, Polaris is 50th by brightness rank.  Given that on a dark night you can see hundreds if not thousands of stars, Polaris is indeed bright.  It's just not at the top of the list.  There are 49 other stars brighter than it.  

So if Polaris isn't the brightest star in the sky, what is?  The Sun, duh!  Okay, trick question.  Let me give you another chance.  What is the brightest star in the NIGHT sky?  The brightest star in the night sky is Sirius.  Sirius is about 24 times brighter than Polaris.  Sirius is relatively close to the constellation of Orion.

The best time to observe Sirius is in the evening after sunset in the winter months.  If you find the 3 belt stars of Orion's belt, move a bit south and toward the east and you'll see a very bright star.  This is Sirius.  This is a great activity to introduce your kids to the night sky.  Learn about a few bright stars/constellations that are easy to find and point them out.  Your kids will be amazed!