SkyRef / Stars

Mintaka

δ Ori. Magnitude 2.23, blue-white. Comfortably visible to the naked eye from a suburban sky.

The numbers

Designationδ Ori
Magnitude2.23
Colourblue-white
Right ascension5.533h
Declination-0.30°
B−V index-0.22
CatalogueHR 1852

What you are looking at

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

Mintaka shines at magnitude 2.23, making it comfortably visible to the naked eye from a suburban sky. Its B−V colour index of -0.22 makes it blue-white to the eye, corresponding to a surface temperature of over 10,000 K.

It sits at right ascension 5.53 hours and declination -0.3°. It straddles the celestial equator, so it is visible from essentially anywhere on Earth at the right time of year.

Find it tonight

SkyRef shows exactly where Mintaka is from your location right now — altitude, compass direction, and rise and set times.

Open the live sky map →

Other named stars

SiriusCanopusArcturusRigil KentaurusVegaCapellaRigelProcyonAchernarBetelgeuseHadarAltairAldebaranAntaresSpicaPolluxFomalhautMimosaDenebAcruxRegulusAdharaShaulaBellatrixElnathMiaplacidusAlnilamAliothMirfakDubheKaus AustralisAlkaidMenkalinanAlhenaCastorAlphard