Vega (aka Alpha Lyrae) is the
brightest star in constellation Lyra.
It is a relatively close star, 25 light-years from Earth, and
one of the most luminous stars in the solar neighborhood,
along with Arcturus and Sirius.
It is very well studied: some of the first
spectral measurements were done on Vega,
and various standardized magnitude scales were defined so
as to take Vega's magnitude as zero (these Vega-based
scales now termed the Vega system).
Vega's characteristics: