Acrux
Blue subgiant (multiple system) · Alpha Crucis
Brightest star in the Southern Cross; most southerly first-magnitude star
Acrux marks the foot of the Southern Cross and is the southernmost star of the first magnitude visible from Earth. What appears as a single point to the eye is actually a tight group of hot, massive blue stars.
Illustration generated from temperature, not a photograph
17.2 ☉
mass (the Sun = 1)
31,117 ×
as bright as the Sun
28,950 K
surface · blue-white star
7 R☉
radius (the Sun = 1)
348 ly
from Earth
0.8
apparent magnitude
Visible to the naked eyeno equipment needed · apparent magnitude 0.8
It pours out about 31,117 times the Sun’s light. Its light has been travelling 348 years to reach us, so you see Acrux as it was 348 years ago.
Source · Wikidata
It lives in
Milky Way
Barred spiral galaxy.
Other notable stars in the Milky Way
Eta CarinaeLuminous blue variableAlnilamBlue supergiantVY Canis MajorisRed hypergiantAlnitakHot blue supergiantDenebBlue-white supergiantMintakaHot blue giant multiple star
Stars of similar brightness
HadarBlue giant31,623 ×MimosaBlue giant25,704 ×SpicaBlue giant (close binary)20,512 ×BetelgeuseRed supergiant59,979 ×SaiphBlue supergiant60,256 ×HV 2112Red supergiant (Thorne-Zytkow candidate)63,096 ×
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→