- 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 temperature is about 9,200 degrees Celsius.
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.