Star profile

15 Ursae Majoris

3D likeness based on its real data · class A · ~8,500 K

What is 15 Ursae Majoris

15 Ursae Majoris glows on the forepaw of the Great Bear, just 94 light-years away from Earth —relatively close as naked-eye stars go. It is a white A-type sun, distinctly hotter and more luminous than ours, with a clean bluish light that holds up even against light-polluted urban skies. The photons reaching us tonight set out from its surface just as the twentieth century was being minted.

Where it is and when to see it

15 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 90° up.
From New York it never sets and culminates about 79° up.
From Sydney it culminates about 4° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere north of 38° S.

It ranks no. 22 in brightness among the 124 stars of Ursa Major in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alioth, the brightest: it lies about 33° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 94 years ago.

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Astronomical data for 15 Ursae Majoris

Constellation: Ursa Major
Apparent magnitude: 4.46
Distance: 94.0 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 137.218° · Dec 51.605°
Catalogue: HIP 44901 · HD 78209

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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