RA 165.4602° · Dec 56.3824° · star
4 more points to reach Rare.
Merak is an uncommon star. It lies about 79.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation UMa, shines at apparent magnitude 2.34 and has spectral type A1V.
Its spectrum reads A1V — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.
Look for Merak in the constellation UMa. At apparent magnitude 2.34, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.
Like any astronomical target, Merak is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Merak scores 30 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 6 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, Has a proper name, Never sets (northern circumpolar), White A-type star and Main-sequence star — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.