Vega
Blue-white main-sequence star · Alpha Lyrae
Historical zero point of the magnitude scale
A rapidly spinning, nearby A-type star long used to anchor the brightness scale, Vega is encircled by a dusty debris disk and was a former northern pole star that will reign again in roughly 12,000 years.
Illustration generated from temperature, not a photograph
2.1 ☉
mass (the Sun = 1)
40 ×
as bright as the Sun
9,550 K
surface · white star
3 R☉
radius (the Sun = 1)
25 ly
from Earth
0.0
apparent magnitude
It pours out about 40 times the Sun’s light. Its light has been travelling 25 years to reach us, so you see Vega as it was 25 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
MizarBlue-white multiple star33 ×RasalhagueWhite giant (rapid rotator)31 ×FomalhautWhite main-sequence star17 ×DenebolaWhite main-sequence star15 ×AltairWhite main-sequence star11 ×AlgolBlue-white eclipsing binary182 ×
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→