Star profile

Rho Ursae Majoris

Cool red star

3D likeness based on its real data · class M · ~3,200 K

What is Rho Ursae Majoris

Rho Ursae Majoris peers from the head region of the Great Bear, far from the famous Plough asterism but inside the same ancestral figure. A red type M giant some 315 light-years away, its light is the warm pulp of an expanding atmosphere, swollen to several times the Sun's diameter. Its discreet ruddiness is a reminder that even within the most recognisable constellation of the northern sky there live stars at very different chapters of their biographies.

Where it is and when to see it

Rho Ursae Majoris lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is January, when it culminates around midnight.

From London it never sets and culminates about 74° up.
From New York it never sets and culminates about 63° up.
From Sydney it never rises above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere north of 22° S.

It ranks no. 31 in brightness among the 124 stars of Ursa Major in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alioth, the brightest: it lies about 28° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 310 years ago.

Find it on the sky map

It opens in your browser. Free, no account, nothing to install.

Leave your signature on Rho Ursae Majoris

Your name and a message go up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.

Without a lock, someone else can replace your signature. How the lock works

We'll ask for an email to confirm it's you, no password.

Write my signature

A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.

Astronomical data for Rho Ursae Majoris

Constellation: Ursa Major
Apparent magnitude: 4.74
Distance: 314.6 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 135.636° · Dec 67.630°
Catalogue: HIP 44390 · HD 76827

A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.

Other stars in Ursa Major

Ursa Major has 124 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 124 stars in Ursa Major