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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 7:19 
Transit: 12:14 
Sunset: 17:09
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All Constellations » Ursa Major » 

τ Ursae Majoris (tau Ursae Majoris)

Above the horizon.  Circumpolar today
Alt: 33.94°   Az: 332.29°   Direction: North-North-West

τ Ursae Majoris is a multiple giant star of spectral class F3 in the constellation of Ursa Major.

τ Ursae Majoris visual magnitude is 4.67. Because of its moderate brightness, τ Ursae Majoris is easily visible to the naked eye from locations with dark skies, while it might be barely visible, or not visible at all, from light-polluted skies.

Image of τ Ursae Majoris (tau Ursae Majoris) star
DSS2 image of τ Ursae Majoris. The red arrow shows the motion of τ Ursae Majoris during the next 1000 years (1.63 arcmin in Right Ascension and -0.93 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

09h 12m 57s
+63° 24’ 35”
08h 01m 52s
17h 14m 49s

J2000

09h 10m 55s
+63° 30’ 48”

Galactic Coordinates

151.21°
39.42°

Finder Chart

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Finder chart for τ Ursae Majoris (tau Ursae Majoris).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

4.67
Giant

1.81
F3III
7158K

The red dot in the diagram below shows where τ Ursae Majoris is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

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

Star System Properties

τ Ursae Majoris 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 τ Ursae Majoris double sysyem:

4.67
10.87
6.2
57.2 arcsec

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

τ Ursae Majoris is distant 121.69 light years from the Sun and it is moving towards the Sun at the speed of 9 kilometers per second.

37.33
121.69
-9 km/s
0.098 arcsec/y
-0.056"/y

Alternative Designations

τ Ursae Majoris
(tau Ursae Majoris)
14 Ursae Majoris
SAO14796
SAO14796

Visibility from Your Location

τ Ursae Majoris (tau Ursae Majoris) is circumpolar and transits at 23:39 UTC (altitude: 78.1°)