Stars · Star in Ursa Major
Star
Alcor
The Rider on Mizar’s horse — the faint companion in the Big Dipper’s handle, and a classic test of eyesight.
- Constellation
- Ursa Major
- Designation
- 80 Ursae Majoris
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.99 · 519th brightest star in the night sky
- Spectral class
- A5V SB
- Distance
- 81.7 light-years
- Position (J2000)
- RA 13h 25m · Dec +54° 59′
A white main-sequence star, around 8,800 K, like Sirius and Vega. About 10× brighter than the faintest star the eye can see. The light you are seeing left around 1944.
Other skies
In Arab tradition, the Arabic name as-Suhā is sometimes explained as “the forgotten one”. For some Native American peoples it is a small cooking pot carried by one of the hunters following the bear.