Seen from Europe: Which star is the brightest in the night sky?
The brightest star at night seen from Europe is called Sirius. Its radius is 2,100 times as large as the sun’s and is 200,000 times bigger than earth. Before reaching our human eyes, it travels 5,000 years on its way across the universe. At the firmament, Sirius can be found South-East from Orion. Orion’s belt, which contains three stars point directly at it. Sirius belongs to the star constellation, the “Canis Major the Greater Dog” – sometimes known as the “Dog Star” which can be seen deep over the horizon in the south. Also Sirius is the southern point of the winter hexagon.
