How bright is Dubhe (apparent magnitude)?

1.8 — Ursa Major's brightest.

Where is Dubhe in the sky right now?

Open the sky view for your location and time and it shows the position in the sky right now.

Dubhe

What is Dubhe?

Stars· Distance 123 ly · size 30× Sun. The star at the lip of the Big Dipper's bowl — extend the line from Merak through Dubhe five times and you land on Polaris. Unlike its Dipper neighbours it is an orange giant drifting the other way, which will eventually pull the Dipper out of shape.

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bearing · altitude · rise time · best time tonight

Find Dubhe in my sky now Dubhe at its real distance (3D map)

Where Dubhe is in your sky right now: https://nowsky.org/solar/sky?sel=dubhe — location and time set automatically, no login.

Distance and spectral type

Dubhe is about 123 light-years away, a yellow-white main-sequence star (spectral type F7V), in the constellation Orion. Its apparent magnitude is 1.8, visible to the naked eye.

Stellar figures

Distance	123 ly
Magnitude	1.8 — Ursa Major's brightest
Type	orange giant K0III
Role	with Merak, the Pointers to Polaris

Figures are representative approximations. Source: compiled from NASA and IAU public data.

Behind the name

Arabic for "bear". One of the two Pointers of the Big Dipper that lead to Polaris.

Frequently asked

How far is Dubhe from Earth?: 123 ly.
How bright is Dubhe (apparent magnitude)?: 1.8 — Ursa Major's brightest.
What kind of object is Dubhe?: orange giant K0III.
Which constellation is Dubhe in?: Orion.
Where is Dubhe in the sky right now?: Open the sky view for your location and time and it shows the position in the sky right now.

Dubhe's 44-year companion

Dubhe is not alone. Around the orange giant of four solar masses circles a spectral-type F companion at 23 AU — about the distance of Uranus — with a period of 44 years. Their separation, around 0.7 arcseconds, does not split in a small telescope and shows only in large instruments or interferometers. A further pair orbits much farther out, making Dubhe a quadruple system.

The companion allowed Dubhe's mass to be computed directly, at 4.25 Suns, confirming it as heavier and faster-evolving than the other stars of the Dipper. That is why Dubhe has already become a giant and turned orange while the rest of the bowl stars are still blue-white main-sequence stars — the one star of a different colour among the seven owes it to this difference in mass.

The star in depth

Dubhe is the brightest star of Ursa Major, sitting at the outer top corner of the Big Dipper's bowl; the name comes from the Arabic word for 'bear'. About 123 light-years away and some 30 times the Sun's diameter, it is an orange giant with a close companion. That is why it is the one warm-coloured star in a Dipper of blue-white ones.

Its fame rests on being a Pointer. Draw a line from Merak through Dubhe and extend it about five times and you arrive at Polaris. Curiously, Dubhe and Alkaid are not members of the Ursa Major Moving Group that the other five Dipper stars share; they travel in different directions, so tens of thousands of years from now the Dipper will look nothing like it does today.

Select Dubhe in the Sky view to highlight the whole of Ursa Major and follow the Dubhe–Merak line up to Polaris. Speed up playback through a full day and you will watch the Dipper wheel in a wide circle around the pole star.

Ursa Major Polaris Mizar

Figures are representative approximations. Simulated positions use J2000 mean elements.