With the advent of summer, the interest in observing the night sky increases and getting to know the most important stars that man has always taken throughout history as signs to guide him in his travels.

So what are the brightest stars that we can watch?

How can it be located?

Here is the most important thing you should know about this topic.

How many stars can be seen?

Under ideal conditions, about 10,000 stars can be seen with the naked eye.

However, in reality we rarely see more than 3,000 stars because of light pollution, as well as because vision is limited to only part of the planetarium, according to our location on the surface of the Earth.

But the number of stars about which scientists have data is much greater.

Researchers estimate that our galaxy contains about 100 billion stars, most of which are not bright enough to be detected.

The Gaia probe, launched by the European Space Agency in 2013, was able to record measurements of more than 1.6 billion stars, equivalent to only 1% of the stars in the galaxy.

Arcturus, the brightest star in the sky in summer (Wikimedia)

How do we distinguish stars from planets in the sky?

The five planets visible to the naked eye (Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn) have an intense and steady glow, while the stars twinkle.

In fact, as they penetrate the atmosphere, the starlight rays adjust their direction, each time they pass through a layer of air of a different temperature or density.

As these layers move, the stars appear to be dancing before our eyes.

As for the planets that reflect sunlight, the eye does not see this luminescence because their apparent size is relatively large.

What are the brightest stars in the summer sky?

Many people think that the North Star - or the Polar Star - is the brightest star in the summer night sky, because it is one of the few stars that can be easily located.

It is located along the imaginary line passing through the Earth's poles or the Earth's axis, so it is used in navigation to determine the north direction.

But this famous star is not really among the brightest stars in the sky in summer.

So what is the brightest star of the summer?

Arcturus

Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation Boötes and the fourth brightest star visible from Earth, according to Star Facts.

The location of this star can be easily determined by first finding the constellation Ursa Major, which is high in the night sky.

Then search for its 4-star tail and follow the path of the imaginary line passing through it until reaching a very bright star in its area, the Arcturus.

This star is located about 37 light-years away and is an orange giant, about 215 times the size of the Sun.

summer triangle

In the summer sky, 3 other bright stars appear, forming what amateur astronomers know as the "Summer Triangle".

These stars are Vega, Deneb, and Altair.

The triangle rises in the east after dark, and soars at midnight by July and August.

Through this triangle, the disk of our galaxy (the Milky Way) can be seen, interspersed with a large number of bright star groups, in addition to some of the most famous planetary clouds, such as the Ring Nebula and the Messier 27 nebula.

Summer Triangle with the Milky Way disc behind it (Flickr)

vega

The star Eagle is the brightest star of the triangle, and it is the fifth brightest star in the whole sky, and it is located - according to the website "Space.com" - 25 light-years away from our solar system.

It is a young star that is no more than 450 million years old, or about a tenth of the age of the Sun.

The eagle in the past was the North Star during the 12th millennium BC, and will return again some 12,000 years later.

In summer it can be seen near zenith (just above our heads) at mid-northern latitudes during the evening.

the flying Eagle

As for the second star in the triangle, the Flying Eagle, it is located in the constellation of the Vulture and forms the head of the Vulture. It was so named because, with two neighboring stars, it forms an eagle with its wings spread.

It is one of the closest stars seen with the naked eye and is the 12th brightest star in the night sky.

It is white in color with a surface temperature of about 7300 degrees Celsius, and it is more than 8 light years away from us.

Vega is the brightest star in the Summer Triangle (Flickr)

chicken guilt

The third star in the triangle is Cygnus, the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus.

And it occupies the 19th place in the list of the most luminous stars that the naked eye can see, but in fact it is very bright.

It appears relatively faint due to its distance, as the distance that separates it from us is between 2,100 and 7,400 light years, according to scientists' estimates.

Astronomers classify the chicken's tail within the group of super-giant stars, with a diameter of about 200 times the diameter of the sun.

The Capella star is a very luminous star system in the constellation Aurigae (Wikimedia)

Al-Ayouq star

The Capella star is a very bright star system in the constellation Aurigae. It is one of the brightest stars in the constellation, and the sixth brightest star in the sky.

Although it appears to the naked eye as a single star, Capella is actually a 4-star system in a binary pair, according to the website Astropixels.

The first pair consists of two large, bright giant stars, each with a radius of 10 times the Sun.

Astronomers believe that these two stars are in the process of expanding and gradually turning into red giants.

The second binary pair consists of two relatively cool, faint red dwarfs.

The couple revolves around each other.

Late summer, Canopus, the second brightest star in the night sky, after Sirius (Getty Images)

Suhail's star at the end of the summer

Late summer, the star of Suhail (Canopus), the second brightest star in the night sky after Sirius, and the brightest star in the group of stars that make up the base constellation.

Suhail is located about 310 light-years from the sun, easy to view from the southern hemisphere, while in the northern hemisphere appears late summer towards the south.

It does not appear in the sky of the Arab region until the end of August, specifically on the 24th of it.

Its appearance is a sign of the end of summer and the beginning of cold weather.