Sirius is the brightest star visible in Earth's night sky. While many believe the sun is the brightest star, Sirius has a visual magnitude of 1.46, making it nearly twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. Sirius is actually a binary star system composed of Sirius A and Sirius B located between 8.2 and 31.5 astronomical units apart. As Sirius moves closer to the solar system over the next 60,000 years, it will increase in brightness before beginning to dim after 210,000 years, but it will remain the brightest star visible from Earth.

1. Merve Özdemir
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What is the brightest star?
Stars are massive and shining creations which are composed of hydrogen ,helium and
smaller amounts of other elements of hot gas. The stars that you can see with your naked eye
in the night are belong to the Milky Way Galaxy which is the huge system of stars in Earth’s
solar system. Most people think that the brightest star is the sun which is the closest star to the
Earth , our source of life. But actually , the truth is really different from the general thought.
‘’Sirius’’ is the brightest star in the Earth’s night sky.
It is known for long years that the brightest star is Sirius which has a visual magnitude of
1.46 . I means that it is nearly twice as bright as the next brightest star ( Canopus). The name
‘’Sirius’’ is derived from ancient Greek language.‘’ Its name comes from the Greek word for
scorching.’’ (http://space.about.com/od/stars/tp/brighteststars.htm). The other name of this
star is‘’Dog Star’’ which reflects the prominence of Sirius in some ancient mythological
stories. ‘’ The heliacal rising of Sirius marked the flooding of the Nile in Ancient Egypt and
the "dog days" of summer for the ancient Greeks, while to the Polynesians it marked winter
and was an important star for navigation around the Pacific Ocean.’’
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius)
Sirius is originally composed of two bright blue stars. The more massive one called Sirius B,
consumed its resources and turned into its current state 120 million years ago. The distance
between ‘Sirius A’ and ‘Sirius B’ varies between 8.2 and 31.5 AU. Sirius appears bright
because of its proximity to the Earth. It is the closest star (after the Sun) that can be seen with
the naked eyes. As the Sirius is gradually moving closer to the Solar system , it will probably
increase in brightness over the next 60,000 years. After that time , it will slowly begin to lose
its brightness. But it is said that Sirius will continue to be the brightest star fort he next 210 ,
000 years.
Contrary to what people think , Sirius is twice as massive as the Sun and 25 times brighter
than the Sun. The system is around 300 million years old. Also , Sirius has been known since
the ancient Egypt times and it is recorded in the earliest astronomical records.

2. REFERENCES
1) About.com:Space and Astronomy: Top 10 Brightest Stars. (n.d) Retrieved March 5
, 2014, from http://space.about.com/od/stars/tp/brighteststars.htm
2) Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia: Sirius (n.d) . Retrieved March 5 , 2014 , from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius