Alnitak
Hot blue supergiant · Zeta Orionis
Easternmost star of Orion's Belt; brightest O-class star in the sky
Alnitak is the easternmost star of Orion's Belt and the brightest O-type star in the night sky, an immensely hot blue supergiant near the end of its life. It anchors a triple system and lights up the nearby Flame and Horsehead nebulae.
Illustration generated from temperature, not a photograph
33.0 ☉
mass (the Sun = 1)
250 thousand ×
as bright as the Sun
29,500 K
surface · blue-white star
20 R☉
radius (the Sun = 1)
1,260 ly
from Earth
1.8
apparent magnitude
It pours out about 250 thousand times the Sun’s light. Its light has been travelling 1,260 years to reach us, so you see Alnitak as it was 1,260 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 hypergiantDenebBlue-white supergiantMintakaHot blue giant multiple starAntaresRed supergiant
Stars of similar brightness
VY Canis MajorisRed hypergiant270 thousand ×AlnilamBlue supergiant271 thousand ×WOH G64Red hypergiant282 thousand ×DenebBlue-white supergiant196 thousand ×MintakaHot blue giant multiple star190 thousand ×Sanduleak -69° 202Blue supergiant (B3 Ia)100 thousand ×
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→