Star profile

73 Ursae Majoris

Cool red star

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

What is 73 Ursae Majoris

73 Ursae Majoris is an M-type red giant 417 light-years away, a star at the twilight of its life whose surface temperature is well below the Sun's. It shares the sky with the famous seven stars of the Plough, though it lies outside the asterism, lost in the rest of the Bear's vast body. Its warm reddish glow is the signature of a swollen star that will one day return its outer layers to space.

Where it is and when to see it

73 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 February, when it culminates around midnight.

From London it never sets and culminates about 86° up.
From New York it never sets and culminates about 75° up.
From Sydney it culminates about 1° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere north of 34° S.

It ranks no. 80 in brightness among the 124 stars of Ursa Major in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alioth, the brightest: it lies about 4° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 420 years ago.

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Astronomical data for 73 Ursae Majoris

Constellation: Ursa Major
Apparent magnitude: 5.68
Distance: 417.1 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 186.896° · Dec 55.713°
Catalogue: HIP 60795 · HD 108502

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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