- Stars with a name
- Polaris Australis
Polaris Australis
σ Octantis
Polaris Australis is a yellow-white giant, in the constellation Octans. The light you see from it tonight left it around 1745.
Where to find it
From mid-northern latitudes, such as New York, Rome or Tokyo, it never rises: it belongs to the southern sky.
Visible to the naked eye only under a dark sky, away from town. Apparent magnitude 5.45.
What it’s like
It gives off 43 times as much light as the Sun.
Its surface temperature is about 7,300 degrees Celsius.
It is 280.9 light years away: 2658 trillion kilometres.