Stars

The brightest star in the night sky.

Astronomy's original calibration star — a rapidly spinning A-dwarf encircled by a debris disk.

A restless red supergiant that will one day blaze as a supernova.

Earth's pole star for the past two millennia — a pulsating yellow supergiant that guided every navigator who ever sailed by the stars.

The closest star to our Solar System — a restless red dwarf just 4.2 light-years away.

The brightest star in the night sky.

The second-brightest star in the night sky — a giant blazing 16,600 times the Sun.

The brightest star in the northern sky and a nearby giant nearing the end of its hydrogen-burning days.

Astronomy's original calibration star — a rapidly spinning A-dwarf encircled by a debris disk.

The sixth-brightest star in the sky is actually two golden giants orbiting each other every 104 days.

A blue supergiant 120,000 times the Sun's luminosity and a future supernova candidate.

The sky's most oblate star, spun so fast its poles nearly glow white.

A restless red supergiant that will one day blaze as a supernova.

One of the nearest bright stars, spinning so fast it bulges at the equator.

The brightest star in the Southern Cross — a quadruple blue system at the keel of the southern sky.

A bloated orange giant marking the fiery eye of Taurus, 44 times the Sun's girth.

A scorching blue binary that tidally distorts its own twin in a four-day orbit.

A scarlet supergiant so vast it would swallow Mars's orbit entire.

The nearest giant star to the Sun — and the first giant known to host a planet.

The solitary 'Autumn Star' — young, ringed by a planet-sculpting debris disk, and already famous for its first directly imaged exoplanet candidate.

The second-brightest jewel of the Southern Cross — a hot blue giant 25,000 times more luminous than the Sun.

The most luminous first-magnitude star — a blue-white supergiant shining with the light of 100,000 suns from over 1,400 light-years away.

The closest bright B-type star — spinning so fast it bulges at the equator and runs cooler there than at its poles.

Orion's brilliant blue shoulder — one of the hottest naked-eye stars in the sky.

The closest star to our Solar System — a restless red dwarf just 4.2 light-years away.

The closest star system to the Sun — a Sun-like binary just 4.3 light-years away, with the dim red dwarf Proxima as its nearest member.

The fastest-moving star in the sky and the second-nearest stellar system to Earth.

One of the faintest, smallest stars known — a fierce flare star in Leo just 7.8 light-years away.

The intrinsically brightest red dwarf in the northern sky — yet still too faint to see without a telescope.

The brightest star in the night sky.

A tranquil M-dwarf just 11 light-years away hosting one of the most promising nearby Earth-sized worlds.

The nearest Sun-like star with a white-dwarf companion — and a hint of our own future.

A faint red dwarf just 14 light-years away, orbited by three rocky worlds — one near the habitable zone.

One of the nearest bright stars, spinning so fast it bulges at the equator.

Astronomy's original calibration star — a rapidly spinning A-dwarf encircled by a debris disk.

The solitary 'Autumn Star' — young, ringed by a planet-sculpting debris disk, and already famous for its first directly imaged exoplanet candidate.

The second-brightest star in the night sky — a giant blazing 16,600 times the Sun.

A blue supergiant 120,000 times the Sun's luminosity and a future supernova candidate.

A restless red supergiant that will one day blaze as a supernova.

A scarlet supergiant so vast it would swallow Mars's orbit entire.

The most luminous first-magnitude star — a blue-white supergiant shining with the light of 100,000 suns from over 1,400 light-years away.

The closest star system to the Sun — a Sun-like binary just 4.3 light-years away, with the dim red dwarf Proxima as its nearest member.

The nearest giant star to the Sun — and the first giant known to host a planet.

The fastest-moving star in the sky and the second-nearest stellar system to Earth.

A faint red dwarf just 14 light-years away, orbited by three rocky worlds — one near the habitable zone.

The closest star to our Solar System — a restless red dwarf just 4.2 light-years away.

A tranquil M-dwarf just 11 light-years away hosting one of the most promising nearby Earth-sized worlds.

Earth's pole star for the past two millennia — a pulsating yellow supergiant that guided every navigator who ever sailed by the stars.

The closest star system to the Sun — a Sun-like binary just 4.3 light-years away, with the dim red dwarf Proxima as its nearest member.

The sixth-brightest star in the sky is actually two golden giants orbiting each other every 104 days.

The nearest Sun-like star with a white-dwarf companion — and a hint of our own future.

The brightest star in the Southern Cross — a quadruple blue system at the keel of the southern sky.

The second-brightest jewel of the Southern Cross — a hot blue giant 25,000 times more luminous than the Sun.

The closest bright B-type star — spinning so fast it bulges at the equator and runs cooler there than at its poles.

One star to the naked eye, but look closer: Castor is actually six stars in three orbiting pairs.

The sky's most famous winking star — an eclipsing binary that dims every 2.87 days like clockwork.