- Stars with a name
- Alnitak
Alnitak
ζ Orionis
Alnitak is a very hot blue supergiant, in the constellation Orion. The light you see from it tonight left it around 1290.
Where to find it
From mid-northern latitudes, such as New York, Rome or Tokyo, it is best seen in the evening sky in January, February, and December.
Bright enough to see even from a city. Apparent magnitude 1.74.
What it’s like
It gives off 8,937 times as much light as the Sun.
Its surface temperature is about 13,300 degrees Celsius.
It is 736.2 light years away: 6965 trillion kilometres.