Star
Alioth
Alioth is a white star 82.5 light-years away, seen as it was 83 years ago, shining 110 times as bright as the Sun.
See it live
It is on the live 3D map, where it really is.
The star of the Big Dipper's handle nearest the bowl, once used to steer ships: one of the 57 navigational stars. Its spectrum varies in a 5.1-day cycle.
Key facts
- Distance
- 82.5 light-years
- Brightness from Earth
- magnitude 1.76
- Spectral type
- A0p
- Catalogue
- HIP 62956
See it from here
Bright enough to see with your own eyes from a dark place.
How the map draws it
Drawn as a point of light, sized by how bright it looks from where you are — the kind of thing, not this exact one.
Source: HYG Stellar Database v4.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0), Gaia and Hipparcos distances
This page is built from the same records and words as the map's card, and carries no live numbers.