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: 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.

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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

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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 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

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