Star
Canopus
Canopus is a yellow-white star 309 light-years away, seen as it was 309 years ago, shining 13 855 times as bright as the Sun.
The second-brightest star in the night sky. Spacecraft steer by it: in 1964 Mariner 4 locked on to it, the first time a star had been used.
See it live
It is on the live 3D map, where it really is.
Key facts
- Distance
- 309 light-years
- Brightness from Earth
- magnitude −0.62
- Spectral type
- F0Ib
- Catalogue
- HIP 30438
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.