Canopus
Yellow-white bright giant · Alpha Carinae
Second-brightest star in the night sky
A luminous yellow-white supergiant that ranks as the second-brightest nighttime star, Canopus long served as a navigation beacon for spacecraft because of its brilliance and southerly position.
Illustration generated from temperature, not a photograph
13 thousand ×
as bright as the Sun
7,557 K
surface · white star
307 ly
from Earth
-0.7
apparent magnitude
It pours out about 13 thousand times the Sun’s light. Its light has been travelling 307 years to reach us, so you see Canopus as it was 307 years ago.
Source · View on Wikidata
It lives in
Milky Way
Barred spiral galaxy.
Other notable stars in Milky Way
Eta CarinaeLuminous blue variableAlnilamBlue supergiantVY Canis MajorisRed hypergiantAlnitakHot blue supergiantDenebBlue-white supergiantMintakaHot blue giant multiple star
Stars of similar brightness
MiraRed giant (pulsating variable)9 thousand ×SpicaBlue giant (close binary)21 thousand ×MimosaBlue giant26 thousand ×BellatrixHot blue giant star6 thousand ×AcruxBlue subgiant (multiple system)31 thousand ×HadarBlue giant32 thousand ×
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→