Star profile

Tania Australis

Mu Ursae Majoris · Ursa Major

Cool red star

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

What is Tania Australis

Tania Australis is the «southern» of the Tania pair, the stars that in Arabic tradition formed one of the strides of the Great Bear, the «second leap of the gazelle». It is a cool red giant, swollen and mature, lying 230 light-years away. Its reddish light set out when Europe's kingdoms still measured time with imperfect mechanical clocks and the first cabinets of curiosities were beginning to fill.

Where it is and when to see it

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

From London it never sets and culminates about 80° up.
From New York it culminates about 89° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 15° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere north of 49° S.

It ranks no. 8 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 230 years ago.

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Astronomical data for Tania Australis

Constellation: Ursa Major
Apparent magnitude: 3.06
Distance: 230.4 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 155.582° · Dec 41.500°
Catalogue: HIP 50801 · HD 89758

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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