Home
Search Objects
Major Solar System Objects
Comets
Asteroids
Spacecrafts
Star Maps
Orbits
public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 4:47 
Transit: 12:58 
Sunset: 21:10
warning Set your observing location to get relevant data
wb_twilight   (Astronomical Twilight)  
Planets Visible Tonight
Planets Visible Tonight
 • 
What's Visible Now • Tonight Sky
Search  close
All Constellations » Ursa Major » 

Alkaid - η Ursae Majoris (eta Ursae Majoris)

Above the horizon.  Circumpolar today
Alt: 65.61°   Az: 279.92°   Direction: West

Alkaid, also designated as η Ursae Majoris (eta Ursae Majoris), is a variable main-sequence star of spectral class B3 in the constellation of Ursa Major.

Alkaid visual magnitude is 1.86, making it the 37th brightest star in the sky. Because of its brightness, Alkaid is clearly visible to the naked eye when observed from locations with dark skies, and should be also quite easily visible from light polluted areas.

Image of Alkaid - η Ursae Majoris (eta Ursae Majoris) star
DSS2 image of Alkaid. The red arrow shows the motion of Alkaid during the next 1000 years (-2.03 arcmin in Right Ascension and -0.18 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

13h 48m 32s
+49° 11’ 13”
02h 33m 59s
16h 22m 31s

J2000

13h 47m 32s
+49° 18’ 47”

Galactic Coordinates

100.69°
65.32°

Finder Chart

loader
  Loading map...
Finder chart for Alkaid - η Ursae Majoris (eta Ursae Majoris).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

1.86
Main-sequence

-0.59
B3V
13348K

The red dot in the diagram below shows where Alkaid is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

HR Diagram
H-R diagram showing the position of Alkaid. Attribution: Richard Powell / CC BY-SA

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

Alkaid is distant 100.65 light years from the Sun and it is moving towards the Sun at the speed of 11 kilometers per second.

30.87
100.65
-11 km/s
-0.122 arcsec/y
-0.011"/y

Alternative Designations

Alkaid
η Ursae Majoris
(eta Ursae Majoris)
85 Ursae Majoris
SAO44752
SAO44752

Visibility from Your Location

Alkaid - η Ursae Majoris (eta Ursae Majoris) is circumpolar and transits at 20:50 UTC (altitude: 87.7°)