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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 7:21 
Transit: 12:14 
Sunset: 17:07
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All Constellations » Orion » 

Alnilam - ε Orionis (epsilon Orionis)

Below the horizon.  Rise: 14:16 | Tran: 20:08 | Set: 2:04
Alt: -26.26°   Az: 54.37°   Direction: North-East

Alnilam, also designated as ε Orionis (epsilon Orionis), is a variable and double hypergiant star of spectral class B0 in the constellation of Orion.

Alnilam visual magnitude is 1.7, making it the 28th brightest star in the sky. Because of its brightness, Alnilam 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 Alnilam - ε Orionis (epsilon Orionis) star
DSS2 image of Alnilam. The red arrow shows the motion of Alnilam during the next 100000 years (1.67 arcmin in Right Ascension and -3.33 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

05h 37m 29s
-01° 11’ 16”
15h 07m 13s
20h 44m 43s

J2000

05h 36m 12s
-01° 12’ 06”

Galactic Coordinates

205.21°
-17.24°

Finder Chart

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Finder chart for Alnilam - ε Orionis (epsilon Orionis).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

1.7
Hypergiant

-6.37
B0I
13348K

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

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

Star System Properties

Alnilam is a visual double star which can be observed only with the help of very large telescopes. The table below shows key information about the Alnilam double sysyem:

1.7
10.4
8.7
179.9 arcsec

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

Alnilam is distant 1,341.56 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 26 kilometers per second.

411.52
1,341.56
26 km/s
0.001 arcsec/y
-0.002"/y

Alternative Designations

Alnilam
ε Orionis
(epsilon Orionis)
SAO132346
SAO132346

Visibility from Your Location

Today's Alnilam - ε Orionis (epsilon Orionis) rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, UK are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 91.2°
Max altitude: 37.3°
Azimuth: 268.8°