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You are here: Home / Space / How Did Early Astronomers Distinguish One Star From Another and Map the Locations of Stars In the Sky?

How Did Early Astronomers Distinguish One Star From Another and Map the Locations of Stars In the Sky?

April 16, 2020 by Karen Hill

Besides mapping the locations of stars in the sky, astronomers also determined which stars were brighter than others.

The Greek astronomer Hipparchus, a predecessor of Ptolemy, first classified stars according to their brightness. He listed six categories of brightness by magnitude.

Magnitude defines how bright the stars appear to be from Earth. A star’s magnitude is determined largely by how far away from Earth it is. Hipparchus labeled twenty stars as the first magnitude, or the brightest.

The faintest stars, those that are barely visible to the naked eye, he labeled the sixth magnitude.

The mapping of stars in the early days of astronomy was done with the naked eye as the telescope had not been invented yet.

In the 2nd century BC, Greek astronomer Hipparchus created a comprehensive catalog of 1020 stars.

Most of the common names of constellations in the northern hemisphere come from Greek astronomy.

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  • How do Astronomers know there are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on an ocean beach?
  • How Do Stars Move Across the Universe and Why Do Stars Move Across the Sky At Night?
  • What Are Stars Made Of and How Do Astronomers Determine What Stars Are Made Of?
  • How Bright Are Stars and How Many Different Ways Can Astronomers Determine a Star's Brightness?
  • What Is the Hertzsprung Russell Diagram of Stars and How Does It Help Astronomers Determine the Age of a Star?

Filed Under: Space

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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