SkyRef / Stars

Dubhe

α UMa. Magnitude 1.79, orange-red. Comfortably visible to the naked eye from a suburban sky.

The numbers

Designationα UMa
Magnitude1.79
Colourorange-red
Right ascension11.062h
Declination+61.75°
B−V index1.07
CatalogueHR 4301

What you are looking at

Astronomers call it α UMa — the Bayer designation, which reads as a Greek letter ranking its brightness within its constellation. Dubhe is the name people actually use.

Dubhe shines at magnitude 1.79, making it comfortably visible to the naked eye from a suburban sky. Its B−V colour index of 1.07 makes it orange-red to the eye, corresponding to a surface temperature of under 4,000 K.

It sits at right ascension 11.06 hours and declination +61.8°. It is circumpolar from most of the northern hemisphere, meaning it never sets and can be found on any clear night.

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