RA 193.5071° · Dec 55.9598° · star
10 more points to reach Epic.
Alioth is a rare variable star. It lies about 82.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation UMa, shines at apparent magnitude 1.76 and has spectral type A0p.
Its spectrum reads A0p — 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 Alioth in the constellation UMa. At apparent magnitude 1.76, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.
Like any astronomical target, Alioth 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.
Alioth scores 40 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 10 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 8 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, Has a proper name, Never sets (northern circumpolar), White A-type star, Blue-white star, Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) and A named variable 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.