Star profile

78 Ursae Majoris

3D likeness based on its real data · class F · ~6,500 K

What is 78 Ursae Majoris

78 Ursae Majoris is a relatively close neighbour, only 83 light-years away, inside the bowl of the Great Bear. An F-type, yellow-white sun, it belongs to that family of stars slightly hotter and faster-burning than our own. Its light set out in the early twentieth century, when the first radio broadcasts were crossing the Atlantic. Glued to the most recognisable asterism of the northern hemisphere, it is one of those stars that nearly everyone has looked at without knowing.

Where it is and when to see it

78 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 85° up.
From New York it never sets and culminates about 74° up.
From Sydney it never rises above the horizon.

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

It ranks no. 37 in brightness among the 124 stars of Ursa Major in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alioth, the brightest: it lies about 1° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 83 years ago.

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Astronomical data for 78 Ursae Majoris

Constellation: Ursa Major
Apparent magnitude: 4.93
Distance: 83.0 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 195.182° · Dec 56.366°
Catalogue: HIP 63503 · HD 113139

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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