Bellatrix
Hot blue giant star · Gamma Orionis
The Amazon Star; Orion's closest bright star
Bellatrix is the hot blue star marking the left shoulder of Orion and, at about 250 light-years, the nearest of the constellation's leading stars. Its name means 'female warrior,' and its steely blue-white glare comes from a surface several times hotter than the Sun.
Illustration generated from temperature, not a photograph
8.4 ☉
mass (the Sun = 1)
6 thousand ×
as bright as the Sun
21,840 K
surface · blue-white star
6 R☉
radius (the Sun = 1)
252 ly
from Earth
1.6
apparent magnitude
It pours out about 6 thousand times the Sun’s light. Its light has been travelling 252 years to reach us, so you see Bellatrix as it was 252 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
MiraRed giant (pulsating variable)9 thousand ×CanopusYellow-white bright giant13 thousand ×SpicaBlue giant (close binary)21 thousand ×MimosaBlue giant26 thousand ×AcruxBlue subgiant (multiple system)31 thousand ×HadarBlue giant32 thousand ×
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→