On a clear night there is one bright star that you can see, that is brighter than all the rest,?

i always thought it was the north star, is this right if not do you know?On a clear night there is one bright star that you can see, that is brighter than all the rest,?
There are lots of misconceptions floating about here;





(1) Venus (maximum magnitude of -4.6) Mars (maximum magnitude of -2.9) and Jupiter (maximum magnitude of -2.8) are all planets and at their brightest are somewhat brighter than the brightest star Sirius A (magnitude -1.46)





(2) many people seem to think Polaris is the brightest star in the night sky, It is in fact 48th brightest (magnitude 2.01) as compared to Sirius which is the brightest at -1.46.





(3) Polaris has not always been the star nearest to the North Pole and it won't always be the star nearest to the North Pole, either. That honour rotates amongst a handfull of stars once every 26,000 years due a precession of the earth's axis. In ancient times the much fainter star Thuban was nearer to the Pole and regarded as the Pole Star up to 1900 BC.





It will pass to Gemma Cephei about 3000 AD, Iota Cephis by 5200 AD and by 14000 AD to the bright star Vega, the fifth brightest star in the sky





(4) Polaris is not one star but three: a trinary system, consisting of a large yellow Cepheid variable (伪 UMi A), orbited by a bright yellow dwarf (伪 UMi B) at a distance of about 2400 AU (360 billion kilometers, or 224 billion miles). Polaris B can be seen with even a modest telescope and was first noticed by William Herschel in 1780. In 1929, it was discovered by examining the spectrum of Polaris A that it had another very close dwarf companion (variously 伪 UMi P, 伪 UMi a or 伪 UMi Ab).





In January 2006, NASA released images from the Hubble telescope, directly showing all three members of the Polaris trinary system. The nearer dwarf star is in an orbit of only 18.5 AU (2.8 billion km; about the distance from our Sun to Uranus) from Polaris A, explaining why its light is swamped by its close and much brighter companion.





(5) Polaris has brightened up considerably since the days of Ptolemy (who oberved it in 200 AD) He had it down as magnitude 3 but it is now magnitude 2.On a clear night there is one bright star that you can see, that is brighter than all the rest,?
I believe the brightest star is Sirius, the dog star, followed by Canopus.


Regarding the North Star, according to Wikipedia:


The North Star is a title of the star best suited for navigation northwards. A candidate must be visible from Earth and circumpolar to the north celestial pole. The current one is Polaris. It is the star at the end of the ';handle'; of the Little Dipper asterism in the constellation Ursa Minor. It is close to the celestial North Pole, but off by about two-thirds of 1掳.





The North Star has been historically used by explorers to determine their latitude. At any point north of the equator the angle from the horizon to the North Star (its altitude) is the same as the latitude from which that angle was taken. For example, the angle to the North Star for a person at 30掳 latitude will be about 30掳.





Polaris has a visual magnitude of 1.97 (second magnitude), which places it as the Fourth-Brightest star in the sky, though some people mistakenly think this is the brightest star in the night sky (which truly belongs to Sirius).
The ';brightest star'; you are seeing might just be a planet. Venus and Jupiter usually appear very bright, Mars and Saturn somewhat less so, Mercury can only be seen at twilight because of its proximity to the sun.





If it really is a star and not a planet, then the brightest is Sirius, the Dog Star. From the temperate Northern hemisphere,It is visible crossing the southern sky all night in the middle of winter; in April it is visible for only a few hours after sunset. The next brightest stars are Canopus and Alpha Centauri; both are located much further south than Sirius and if you're north of the subtropical latitudes you'll never see them.





Polaris, the North Star, is relatively bright (second magnitude) but it is not the brightest star in the night sky, not by a long shot.
What appears as the brightest star in the sky is actually the planet Venus.
Planets like Jupiter and Venus are often very bright and can be mistaken as stars.
Venus(yes,I know it's a planet,but twinkles like a star;) and The North Star.





p.s.I just gave YOU a star for this question!
It is Venus. It is coming towards us and will get even brighter
It's the North Star.
probably a planet
Too much bloody light pollution where I live, I'm lucky to see the stars once in a blue moon. (Excuse the astronomical pun!)
The brightest of all the naked eye night time stars is called Sirius which shines prominently in the south during winter evenings.





At other times of the year, Arcturus in Bootes is very bright as a spring star, Vega in Lyra similarly is the brightest star in the summer sky and passes more or less overhead from UK latitudes. Autumn is rather devoid of bright stars.





As of the time of writing (April 2007), Venus is piercingly bright during the evening times to the west and is the brightest object in thesky after the Sun and Moon.





The Pole or North Star (Polaris) is relatively faint and notable only because of its position near the North Celestial Pole. It's brightness is around equal to the seven stars making up the Plough asterism.
Almost certainly Venus. It is the brightest natural object in the night sky, except for the Moon. Venus reaches its maximum brightness shortly before sunrise or shortly after sunset, for which reason it is often called the Morning Star or the Evening Star.
The North Star is not the brightest star in the sky. There are different stars visible at different times of the year.





Right now, just after sunset, you should see two bright objects in the sky. Due west is the planet Venus, and in the south-southwest is the star Sirius.
Incorrect.





What you may be referring to is likely a planet depending on where exactly it is in the sky. Venus, Mars, and Jupiter can appear quite bright.





Polaris is not all that big a deal as far as its relative magnitude is concerned.
The north star isn't really that bright. There are other stars brighter than it. also if it's anywhere near the horizon it certainly isn't it (if your in the US). Sirius is bright, but if it's a planet like venus it will be alot brighter than anything else.
It's the moon! LOL! the next thing will be the space station, and recently it's a lot brighter because there had benn works done on it and are using artificial light. Next thing i think is Venus, polaris (noth star) is not really that bright.
its the star of bethleham you big silly lol
YES - ITS THE NORTH STAR, BUT BE CAREFUL U COULD GET IT CONFUSED WITH THE SPACE STATION - ITS SOLOR PANELS SPAN 2 FOOTBALL PITCHES EACH - THIS OFCOURSE REFLECTS ALOT OF LIGHT - AND CAN ALSO LOOK LIKE A STAR