Historical brightest stars

The Solar System and all of the visible stars are in different orbits about the core of the Milky Way galaxy. Thus, their relative positions change over time, and for the nearer stars this movement can be measured. As a star moves toward or away from us, its apparent brightness changes. Sirius is currently the brightest star in Earth's night sky, but it has not always been so. Canopus has persistently been the brightest star over the ages; other stars appear brighter only during relatively temporary periods, during which they are passing our solar system at a much closer distance than Canopus. The table below lists the brightest star in Earth's night sky at each period within the last or next 5 million years.

Star	Start year	End year	Maximum year	Maximum magnitude	Distance at maximum (LY)	Current distance	Current magnitude
Epsilon Canis Majoris	...	-4,460,000	-4,700,000	-3.99	34	430	1.50
Beta Canis Majoris	-4,460,000	-3,700,000	-4,420,000	-3.65	37	500	1.99
Canopus (first time)	-3,700,000	-1,370,000	-3,110,000	-1.86	177	310	-0.72
Zeta Sagittarii	-1,370,000	-1,080,000	-1,200,000	-2.74	8	89.1	2.60
Zeta Leporis	-1,080,000	-950,000	-1,050,000	-2.05	5.3	70	3.55
Canopus (second time)	-950,000	-420,000	-950,000	-1.09	252	310	-0.72
Aldebaran	-420,000	-210,000	-320,000	-1.54	21.5	65	0.85
Capella	-210,000	-160,000	-240,000	-0.82	27.9	42.2	0.08
Canopus (third time)	-160,000	-90,000	-160,000	-0.70	302	310	-0.72
Sirius (current)	-90,000	+210,000	+60,000	-1.64	7.8	8.6	-1.46
Vega	+210,000	+480,000	+290,000	-0.81	17.2	25.04	0.03
Canopus (fourth time)	+480,000	+990,000	+480,000	-0.40	346	310	-0.72
Beta Aurigae	+990,000	+1,150,000	+1,190,000	-0.40	28.5	82.1	1.9
Delta Scuti	+1,150,000	+1,330,000	+1,250,000	-1.84	9.2	187	4.72
Gamma Draconis	+1,330,000	+2,030,000	+1,550,000	-1.39	27.7	154	2.36
Upsilon Librae	+2,030,000	+2,670,000	+2,290,000	-0.46	30	195	3.6
NR Canis Majoris	+2,670,000	+3,050,000	+2,870,000	-0.88	14	280	5.6
Omicron Herculis	+3,050,000	+3,870,000	+3,470,000	-0.63	44	346	3.83
Beta Cygni	+3,870,000	...	+4,610,000	-0.52	80	390	3.18

References

• Sky and Telescope, April 1998 (p60), based on computations from HIPPARCOS data. (The calculations exclude stars whose distance or proper motion is uncertain.)