Star profile

Phi 2 Orionis

3D likeness based on its real data · class G · ~5,500 K

What is Phi 2 Orionis

Phi-2 Orionis forms with Meissa and Phi-1 a small triangle at the hunter's head, just above the three stars of the belt. She is a yellow subgiant older than the Sun by some seven billion years and already starting to swell: with barely more mass, she has grown to eight solar radii and burns thirty times brighter. At 117 light-years she shows in miniature what the Sun will do in five billion years.

Where it is and when to see it

Phi 2 Orionis lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is December, when it culminates around midnight.

From London it culminates about 48° above the horizon.
From New York it culminates about 59° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 47° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere north of 81° S.

It ranks no. 17 in brightness among the 128 stars of Orion in our catalogue. To find it, start from Rigel, the brightest: it lies about 18° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 120 years ago.

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Astronomical data for Phi 2 Orionis

Constellation: Orion
Apparent magnitude: 4.09
Distance: 117.5 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 84.227° · Dec 9.291°
Catalogue: HIP 26366 · HD 37160

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Other stars in Orion

Orion has 128 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 128 stars in Orion