Russia set to launch the brightest star in the sky

Russia may soon launch an artificial satellite into space which will become the brightest object in the night sky after the moon. The satellite is named Mayak, it is a Russian CubeSat and will be fitted with multiple solar reflectors.

For celestial bodies brightness is measured in apparent magnitude (less the value, more the brightness), and it is supposed that this miniature satellite will have an apparent magnitude of -10. For comparison Moon ranks between -13 and -12, whereas Sun has an apparent magnitude of -27. Clearly, this object will be brighter than other objects in the sky such as International Space Station and Venus having an apparent magnitude of -6 and -5 respectively.

Issue for researchers

Not every astronomer is inclined to the idea of sending such an object to space, the main issue is that light of this satellite will disrupt their research.

Nick Howes, an astronomer and former deputy director of the Kielder Observatory in Northumberland said in an interview with IFLScience: