SkyRef / Stars

Phecda

γ UMa. Magnitude 2.44, white. Comfortably visible to the naked eye from a suburban sky.

The numbers

Designationγ UMa
Magnitude2.44
Colourwhite
Right ascension11.897h
Declination+53.69°
B−V index0.00
CatalogueHR 4554

What you are looking at

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

Phecda shines at magnitude 2.44, making it comfortably visible to the naked eye from a suburban sky. Its B−V colour index of 0.00 makes it white to the eye, corresponding to a surface temperature of around 8,000 K.

It sits at right ascension 11.90 hours and declination +53.7°. It sits well north on the sky and is comfortably placed for northern hemisphere observers.

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