Vega

Vega

It ranks fifth among the brightest stars in the sky. Its brightness is 0.03. Other stars that appear brighter than Vega are Sirius, Canopus, Arcturus, and Alpha Centauri A.

 This star appears to be a whitish blue color. The brightness of this star is considered a standard when measuring the brightness of other stars. This star is located 25 light-years from Earth and is 37 times as bright as our Sun.

Vega holds a special place in astrophotography. The first photograph of a star other than our Sun was taken of Vega. It was taken on July 17, 1850, by astronomers William Bond and John Adams. 

The Harvard University Observatory was used to take this photograph. The first spectroscopic photograph of a star was also taken of Vega, in August 1872.