On a clear night, from a dark site with exceptional seeing there are about 2,500 stars visible to the naked eye at any one time and in total there are about 6,000 stars, maybe a few more, visible to the naked eye from Earth. However this represents a very tiny fraction of the number of stars in our Milky Way galaxy. Conservative estimates put the total number at 100 billion with probably many more.
With at least 100 billion galaxies in the Universe the total number of stars in the Universe is enormous, almost unimaginable. In this section we list some of the more famous, unusual and historical significant stars / star groupings of interest to amateur astronomers.
Bright Stars
- Sirius - Alpha Canis Majoris - α CMa - mag. -1.46
- Canopus - Alpha Carinae - α Car - mag. -0.72
- Alpha Centauri - α Cen - mag. -0.27
- Arcturus - Alpha Boötis - α Boo - mag. -0.04
- Vega - Alpha Lyrae - α Lyr - mag. +0.03
- Capella - Alpha Aurigae - α Aur - mag. +0.08
- Betelgeuse - Alpha Orionis - α Ori - mag. +0.42
Double Stars
- Albireo - Beta Cygni - β Cyg
- Almach - Gamma Andromedae - γ And
- 61 Cygni
- Epsilon Lyrae - ε Lyr - The Double Double
- Alpha Centauri - α Cen
- Polaris - Alpha Ursae Minoris - α UMi