ABSTRACT
Look at the sky on a dark, clear night and it may seem that millions of stars are visible. People with average sight can see stars down to magnitude 6, but very keen-eyed observers can reach at least 6.5. The proper names of stars are usually Arabic, although a few are Greek. In 1838 F. W. Bessel, from Konigsberg, successfully measured the parallax of the star 61 Cygni, finding it to be about 11 light-years away. The star with the greatest proper motion is Barnard’s Star, discovered in June 1916 by E. E. Barnard at the Yerkes Observatory. Inevitably there are stars whose proper motions will carry them from one constellation into another constellation. Stars down to magnitude 1.4 are usually said to be of the first magnitude. Some variable stars can reach the first magnitude, although in general they remain fainter. Some stars have been suspected of permanent or secular variation.
