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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 7:17 
Transit: 12:46 
Sunset: 18:15
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All Constellations » Canis Major » 

Mirzam - β Canis Majoris (beta Canis Majoris)

Above the horizon.  Rise: 1:44 | Tran: 6:06 | Set: 10:28
Alt: 11.87°   Az: 140.37°   Direction: South-East

Mirzam, also designated as β Canis Majoris (beta Canis Majoris), is a variable and double bright giant star of spectral class B1 in the constellation of Canis Major.

Mirzam visual magnitude is 1.98, making it the 47th brightest star in the sky. Because of its brightness, Mirzam 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 Mirzam - β Canis Majoris (beta Canis Majoris) star
DSS2 image of Mirzam. The red arrow shows the motion of Mirzam during the next 100000 years (-10.00 arcmin in Right Ascension and 0.00 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

06h 23m 47s
-17° 58’ 11”
21h 15m 58s
03h 39m 46s

J2000

06h 22m 41s
-17° 57’ 20”

Galactic Coordinates

226.06°
-14.27°

Finder Chart

Finder chart Mirzam - β Canis Majoris (beta Canis Majoris) star
Simplified finder chart for Mirzam - β Canis Majoris (beta Canis Majoris).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

1.98
Bright giant

-3.95
B1II
14354K

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

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

Star System Properties

Mirzam 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 Mirzam double sysyem:

1.98
9.78
7.8
185.9 arcsec

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

Mirzam is distant 499.23 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 34 kilometers per second.

153.14
499.23
34 km/s
-0.006 arcsec/y

Alternative Designations

Mirzam
β Canis Majoris
(beta Canis Majoris)
2 Canis Majoris
SAO151428
SAO151428

Visibility from Your Location

Today's Mirzam - β Canis Majoris (beta Canis Majoris) rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, UK are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 108.0°
Max altitude: 20.6°
Azimuth: 252.0°