astrofilitrentini.it

Notice that many of the stars are labelled with Greek letters. In 1603 the German astronomer Johann Bayer assigned these letters to stars so that one might identify them more easily.

Alpha α is the brightest, beta β is the second brightest, γ is the third etc...

Notice, however, that the stars in the bow are all π so this isn't a strict rule.

A star can be referred to by its Bayer designation, e.g. Alpha Orionis, or by its traditional name, e.g. Betelgeuse. Most of the traditional names for stars come from Arabic astronomy (why so many of them start with Al..).

Of course when we refer to the brightness of a star here we are talking about its apparent brightness, i.e. how bright it appears to us. This will obviously depend on how far away the star is.