This is a list of the brightest naked eye stars to +2.50 magnitude, as determined by their maximum, total or combined apparent visual magnitudes as seen from Earth. Although several of the brightest stars are also known close binary or multiple star systems, they do appear to the naked eye as single stars. The given list below combines/adds the magnitudes of bright individual components. Proper names in this list are those approved by the Working Group on Star Names of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and listed in the IAU's Catalog of Star Names.
Apparent visual magnitudes of the brightest star can also be compared to non-stellar objects in our Solar System. Here the maximum visible magnitudes above the brightest star, Sirius (−1.46), are as follows. Excluding the Sun, the brightest objects are the Moon (−12.7), Venus (−4.89), Jupiter (−2.94), Mars (−2.91), Mercury (−2.45), and Saturn (−0.49).
Any exact order of the visual brightness of stars is not perfectly defined for a number of reasons: