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)
6,397 ×
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
Visible to the naked eyeno equipment needed · apparent magnitude 1.6
It pours out about 6,397 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 · 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
MiraRed giant (pulsating variable)8,892 ×CanopusYellow-white bright giant13,305 ×SpicaBlue giant (close binary)20,512 ×MimosaBlue giant25,704 ×AcruxBlue subgiant (multiple system)31,117 ×HadarBlue giant31,623 ×
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→