- Stars with a name
- Alioth
Alioth
ε Ursae Majoris
Alioth is a white star, in the constellation Ursa Major. The light you see from it tonight left it around 1943.
Where to find it
From mid-northern latitudes, such as New York, Rome or Tokyo, it never sets: it circles the pole all night, all year.
Bright enough to see even from a city. Apparent magnitude 1.76.
What it’s like
It gives off 110 times as much light as the Sun.
Its surface is at about 10,400 degrees.
It is 82.6 light years away: 781 trillion kilometres.
It is the star of people born around 1943: the light that left it then is reaching Earth now.