What is the brightest star in the night sky?

Had an argument with a co-worker about this. We saw Venus in the evening sky which he swore was the North star "the brightest star." I told him he was wrong on both counts, made a $5 bet which I then collected on when I brought an astronomy text to show him.

RushMama2112, there are great apps for your phone that will name the heavenly bodies when you point the camera at the sky.

Love the historical facts about The North Star but I agree with Cat mama as the mathematical stuff makes my brain ache!!! 🤣

Sirius, serious,

Science has been looking for a real world answer as to what the Star of Bethlehem might have been, and a popular idea is that it was the conjunction of the two brightest planets: Venus and Jupiter. It would have been bright and beautiful to the naked eye. They would not have followed a comet, as comets were considered bad omens and portents of doom.

An astronomical unit is the mean distance from the earth to the sun, 150 million km (93 million miles). It is used to measure distance within planetary systems. It is too small a unit of measure for interstellar space.

Took Astronomy in high school and college. Just look Sirius is clearly the brightest. Although Vega is very bright too.

just like my Sirius radio

addam , I always thought that the wise men followed Halleys comet.

RushMama2112, I too have always thought that the north star was the brightest star in the night sky which is how the baby Jesus was found by the 3 wise men who were following the north star

A little too much info for my brain to grasp

Sorry 😞 everyone, I answered wrong 😑, I thought 💭 it was Betelgeuse, but I was mistaken, sorry 😢 for the wrong answer, please 🙏 forgive me