Home
Search Objects
Major Solar System Objects
Comets
Asteroids
Spacecrafts
Star Maps
Orbits
public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 5:06 
Transit: 12:56 
Sunset: 20:47
warning Set your observing location to get relevant data
Search  close
All Constellations » Orion » 

Alnitak - ζ Orionis (zeta Orionis)

Below the horizon.  Rise: 9:11 | Tran: 14:59 | Set: 20:48
Alt: -8.73°   Az: 82.05°   Direction: East

Alnitak, also designated as ζ Orionis (zeta Orionis), is a variable and multiple supergiant star of spectral class O9 in the constellation of Orion.

Alnitak visual magnitude is 2.05, making it the 52th brightest star in the sky. Because of its brightness, Alnitak 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 Alnitak - ζ Orionis (zeta Orionis) star
DSS2 image of Alnitak. The red arrow shows the motion of Alnitak during the next 100000 years (5.00 arcmin in Right Ascension and -3.33 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

05h 42m 02s
-01° 55’ 52”
17h 13m 28s
22h 55m 30s

J2000

05h 40m 45s
-01° 56’ 34”

Galactic Coordinates

206.45°
-16.59°

Finder Chart

loader
  Loading map...
Finder chart for Alnitak - ζ Orionis (zeta Orionis).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

2.05
Supergiant

-4.95
O9I
13831K

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

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

Star System Properties

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

2.05
4.25
2.2
2.4 arcsec

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

Alnitak is distant 817.04 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 18 kilometers per second.

250.63
817.04
18 km/s
0.003 arcsec/y
-0.002"/y

Alternative Designations

Alnitak
ζ Orionis
(zeta Orionis)
SAO132444
SAO132444

Visibility from Your Location

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

Azimuth: 91.9°
Max altitude: 36.6°
Azimuth: 268.1°