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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 6:33 
Transit: 12:55 
Sunset: 19:17
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All Constellations » Perseus » 

Mirfak - α Persei (alpha Persei)

Above the horizon.  Circumpolar today
Alt: 48.61°   Az: 295.68°   Direction: West-North-West

Mirfak, also designated as α Persei (alpha Persei), is a variable and double supergiant star of spectral class F5 in the constellation of Perseus.

Mirfak visual magnitude is 1.79, making it the 34th brightest star in the sky. Because of its brightness, Mirfak 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 Mirfak - α Persei (alpha Persei) star
DSS2 image of Mirfak. The red arrow shows the motion of Mirfak during the next 10000 years (4.00 arcmin in Right Ascension and -4.17 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

03h 26m 05s
+49° 56’ 49”
04h 31m 13s
07h 57m 19s

J2000

03h 24m 19s
+49° 51’ 39”

Galactic Coordinates

146.57°
-5.86°

Finder Chart

Finder chart Mirfak - α Persei (alpha Persei) star
Simplified finder chart for Mirfak - α Persei (alpha Persei).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

1.79
Supergiant

-4.50
F5I
6481K

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

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

Star System Properties

Mirfak 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 Mirfak double sysyem:

1.79
11.79
10
167 arcsec

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

Mirfak is distant 591.65 light years from the Sun and it is moving towards the Sun at the speed of 2 kilometers per second.

181.49
591.65
-2 km/s
0.024 arcsec/y
-0.025"/y

Alternative Designations

Mirfak
α Persei
(alpha Persei)
SAO38787
SAO38787

Visibility from Your Location

Mirfak - α Persei (alpha Persei) is circumpolar and transits at 03:55 UTC (altitude: 88.5°)