Looking up at the night sky can fill you with awe as you sift through the tiny points of light. Some stars are more luminous than others because of their proximity to Earth and the closest stars to Earth will appear the brightest.
In astronomy, brightness is measured in negatives. This means, the larger the number, the dimmer the object. For example, Earth’s moon has a magnitude of -12.6 and our Sun has a magnitude of -26.7. The farthest stars are not seen with the naked eye, but only seen with a space telescope like the Hubble Space Telescope, with a magnitude of over 30.
There are different types of magnitudes but the ones listed below are in apparent magnitude, or how bright a star or other object in the sky looks to someone observing from Earth. This type of magnitude is also called, visual magnitude.
Here are the seven brightest and closest stars seen with the naked eye from Earth and their measurements.
