Altair
White main-sequence star · Alpha Aquilae
One of the nearest naked-eye stars; extremely rapid rotator
Altair is a nearby white star that spins so fast it is visibly flattened into an oblate shape, making its equator cooler and dimmer than its poles. It forms one vertex of the Summer Triangle along with Deneb and Vega.
Illustration generated from temperature, not a photograph
1.9 ☉
mass (the Sun = 1)
11 ×
as bright as the Sun
7,550 K
surface · white star
2 R☉
radius (the Sun = 1)
17 ly
from Earth
0.8
apparent magnitude
It pours out about 11 times the Sun’s light. Its light has been travelling 17 years to reach us, so you see Altair as it was 17 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
DenebolaWhite main-sequence star15 ×ProcyonYellow-white subgiant6.9 ×FomalhautWhite main-sequence star17 ×Tabby's StarF-type main-sequence star4.7 ×RasalhagueWhite giant (rapid rotator)31 ×MizarBlue-white multiple star33 ×
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→