Star
Aludra
Blue-white star · B5Ia
η Canis Majoris · Canis Major
Shown in its true colour — like most stars, it is too far away to photograph as more than a point of light.
Eta Canis Majoris is a blue supergiant star in the constellation of Canis Major. It has the proper name Aludra, pronounced ; Eta Canis Majoris is its Bayer designation. This star has an apparent visual magnitude that varies between 2.38 and 2.48, which makes it the fifth-brightest in the constellation. Parallax measurements from the Hipparcos mission estimate a large distance of 2,000 light-years. It is drifting further away from the Sun with a line of sight velocity of 41 km/s.
Description from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
In your sky
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Key facts
Distance
~1,989 light-years
Apparent mag.
+2.45
Spectral type
B5Ia
Luminosity
33,916 × Sun
Absolute mag.
−6.48
Catalogue
HIP 35904
Spectral type
B5Ia
True colour from its B–V index (-0.08): a surface around 11200 K.
Did you know
- Aludra is also known as η Canis Majoris.
- Its spectral type B5Ia marks it as a blue-white star.
- It lies in the constellation Canis Major.
