- Stars with a name
- Mizar
Mizar
ζ Ursae Majoris
Mizar is a white star, in the constellation Ursa Major. The light you see from it tonight left it around 1940.
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 2.23.
What it’s like
It gives off 77 times as much light as the Sun.
Its surface is at about 9,500 degrees.
It is 85.8 light years away: 812 trillion kilometres.
It is the star of people born around 1940: the light that left it then is reaching Earth now.