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Star profile

Phecda

Gamma Ursae Majoris · Ursa Major

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

What is Phecda

Phecda forms one of the four corners of the Big Dipper's bowl in Ursa Major. It is a white star just 83 light-years away, among the closest in the most famous asterism of the northern sky. Its name, from the Arabic «al-fakhdh», means «the thigh» of the bear, and it belongs to a small family of Dipper stars that share a common birthplace: they were born together hundreds of millions of years ago, and still drift across the galaxy in loose formation.

Where it is and when to see it

Phecda 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: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.

Find it on the sky map

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The signature wall

Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.

A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works

If you don't have an account yet, we'll ask for an email to confirm it's you: we send you a link and that's it, 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 Phecda

Constellation
Ursa Major
Apparent magnitude
2.41
Distance
83.2 light years
Coordinates (J2000)
RA 178.458° · Dec 53.695°
Catalogue
HIP 58001 · HD 103287

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