Star
Mizar
White star · A2V
ζ Ursae Majoris · Ursa Major
Shown in its true colour — like most stars, it is too far away to photograph as more than a point of light.
Mizar is a second-magnitude star in the handle of the Big Dipper asterism in the constellation of Ursa Major. It has the Bayer designation ζ Ursae Majoris. It forms a well-known naked eye double star with the fainter star Alcor, and is itself a quadruple star system. The Mizar and Alcor system lies about 83 light-years away from the Sun, as measured by the Hipparcos astrometry satellite, and is part of the Ursa Major Moving Group.
Description from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
In your sky
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Key facts
Distance
~85.8 light-years
Apparent mag.
+2.23
Spectral type
A2V
Luminosity
77.3 × Sun
Absolute mag.
+0.13
Catalogue
HIP 65378
Spectral type
A2V
True colour from its B–V index (0.06): a surface around 9400 K.
Did you know
- Mizar is also known as ζ Ursae Majoris.
- Its spectral type A2V marks it as a white star.
- It lies in the constellation Ursa Major.
