Alkaid
Where is Alkaid?
Look northwest, about 33° up at 20:20 in Ursa Major.
- Rises
- Always up
- Highest
- 13:52
- Sets
- Never
- Best after dark
- 20:20 · 33°
Can I see Alkaid tonight?
From London tonight, Alkaid is above the horizon all night. It’s highest soon after dark, around 20:20, in the northwest at 33°.
At magnitude 1.9 it is one of the brighter points in the sky, easy to see by eye when it’s clear.
This is position and timing only: clouds, haze and light pollution aren’t included.
What does Alkaid look like?
Alkaid looks blue-white to the eye. Its spectral type is B3V: hot blue-white main-sequence star (much hotter than the Sun).
Eyes
The bright star at the tip of the Big Dipper’s handle.
Binoculars
A bright blue-white point.
Telescope
A point of light. The Whirlpool Galaxy, M51, lies a few degrees away.
About Alkaid
Alkaid is the star at the end of the Big Dipper’s handle. It is a hot blue-white star about 100 light-years away.
Like Dubhe, Alkaid isn’t part of the group of stars that moves together through space with the rest of the Dipper, so it will slowly drift out of the pattern over tens of thousands of years.
Alkaid is about six times the mass of the Sun and several hundred times as luminous. It is the hottest star in the Big Dipper.
It is sometimes called Benetnasch. Both names come from an Arabic phrase describing the leader of the mourners following a funeral bier, which was how the Dipper’s stars were once pictured.
From the curve of the handle, you can continue on to Arcturus and Spica.
Because the Big Dipper is circumpolar from most of the Northern Hemisphere, Alkaid can be seen on almost any clear night of the year from mid-northern latitudes.
Alkaid in Ursa Major
Questions
Will the Big Dipper change shape?
Sources: SkyMate; Wikidata (CC0). Positions computed for your place and time with astronomy-engine. Data & Licences