Science Olympiad Stars/Clusters

Aldebaran

Aldebaran is an orange giant star located about 65 light years away in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. With an average apparent magnitude of 0.87 it is the brightest star in the constellation and is one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky.

Dubhe

Alpha Ursae Majoris (Alpha UMa, α Ursae Majoris, α UMa) is the second-brightest star in the constellation of Ursa Major (despite its Bayer designation of "alpha"). It has the traditional name Dubhe, and a rarer name Ak.

Altair

Altair (Alpha Aquilae, Alpha Aql, α Aquilae, α Aql, Atair) is the brightest star in the constellation Aquila and the twelfth brightest star in the night sky. It is currently in the G-cloud.

Antares

Antares, also known by its Bayer designation Alpha Scorpii (abbreviated to α Scorpii or α Sco), is the seventeenth brightest star in the nighttime sky[a] and the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius, and is often referred to as "the heart of the scorpion".

Arcturus

Arcturus of the constellation Boötes is the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is the fourth brightest star in the night sky.

Merak

Beta Ursae Majoris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Major. It has the traditional name Merak.

Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse, also known by its Bayer designation Alpha Orionis (shortened to α Orionis or α Ori), is the ninth-brightest star in the night sky and second-brightest in the constellation of Orion. It is distinctly reddish.

Castor

Castor is the second brightest star in the constellation Gemini and one of the brightest stars in the night sky.

Deneb

Deneb is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus and one of the vertices of the Summer Triangle. It is the 19th brightest star in the night sky. A blue-white supergiant, Deneb is also one of the most luminous nearby stars. However, its exact distance (and hence luminosity) has been difficult to calculate, so it is anywhere between 54,000 and 196,000 times as luminous as the sun.

Pleiades (7 Sisters)

In astronomy, the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.

Polaris

Polaris (α UMi, α Ursae Minoris, Alpha Ursae Minoris, commonly North Star, Northern Star or Pole Star, also Lodestar, sometimes Guiding Star) is the brightest star in the constellation, Ursa Minor, and the 45th brightest star in the night sky. It is very close to the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star.

Pollux

Pollux is a star in the northern constellation of Gemini, the Twins. It is an evolved giant star with an orange hue.

Procyon

Procyon is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Minor. To the naked eye, it appears to be a single star, the eighth brightest in the night sky. It is actually a binary star system, consisting of a white main-sequence star of spectral type F5 IV-V, named Procyon A, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DQZ, named Procyon B. The reason for its brightness is not its intrinsic luminosity but its relative closeness to the Sun.

Regulus

Regulus is the brightest star in the constellation Leo and one of the brightest stars in the night sky, lying approximately 79 light years from Earth. Regulus is a multiple star system composed of four stars that are organized into two pairs.

Rigel

Rigel, also known by its Bayer designation Beta Orionis (β Ori, β Orionis), is the brightest star in the constellation Orion and the seventh brightest star in the night sky.

Sirius

Sirius is the brightest star system in the earth's night sky.

Spica

Spica is the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, and the 15th brightest star in the night sky. It is a blue giant and a variable star of the Beta Cephei type, 250 light years from Earth.

Hyades

The Hyades, also known as Melotte 25 or Collinder 50, is the nearest open cluster to the Solar System and one of the best-studied of all star clusters. The Hipparcos satellite, the Hubble Space Telescope, and infrared color-magnitude diagram fitting have been used to establish a distance of ~153 ly (47 pc) to the cluster center.

Vega

Vega is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, the fifth brightest star in the night sky and the second brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus. It is a relatively close star at only 25 light-years from Earth, and, together with Arcturus and Sirius, one of the most luminous stars in the Sun's neighborhood.