Star
Mirzam
Blue-white star · B1II/III
β 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.
Beta Canis Majoris is a star in the southern constellation of Canis Major, the "Great Dog". Its name is a Bayer designation; it has the proper name Mirzam, pronounced. Visible to the naked eye, this is a variable star that ranges in apparent visual magnitude from 1.97 to 2.01 over a period of six hours. Based on parallax measurements, it is located at a distance of about 500 light-years (150 parsecs) from the Earth. The star is drifting further away from the Sun with a line of sight velocity of +34 km/s. In the modern constellation it lies at the position of the dog's front leg.
Description from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
In your sky
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Key facts
Distance
~493 light-years
Apparent mag.
+1.98
Spectral type
B1II/III
Luminosity
3,209 × Sun
Absolute mag.
−3.92
Catalogue
HIP 30324
Spectral type
B1II/III
True colour from its B–V index (-0.24): a surface around 14600 K.
Did you know
- Mirzam is also known as β Canis Majoris.
- Its spectral type B1II/III marks it as a blue-white star.
- It lies in the constellation Canis Major.
