Explore the Universe. Understand Everything In It.
★
Menu
Home Tonight's Sky News
Explore Solar System PlanetsMoons StarsExoplanets GalaxiesBlack Holes NebulaeAsteroids & Comets Constellations Space Exploration Space Industry
Sky Astronomy Calendar Launches
Learn & Tools Start Learning Astrophysics Scale of the Universe Timeline Glossary A–Z People Young Astronomers Top Lists Tools Compare Worlds Ask the Atlas AI Agents API
About About us Methodology Contact

Guided View
New to astronomy? We explain every term as you browse, in plain English. Same pages, with the help built in.

Expert View
You know the sky. Just the content, clean and compact, with no extra explanations. This is the default view.

Interface language
Light mode
Suhail The Sun (smaller than a dot at this scale)
Surface temperature
3,560 K
Radius
147 × the Sun
Luminosity
3,113 × the Sun
Spectral type
K4Ib-II
Diagram, not a photograph. Colour from the star’s measured colour index; size from its luminosity and temperature, drawn to one scale with the Sun. Source: HYG stellar database.

Cataloged star · Database record + computed analysis

Suhail

Designation: Lam Vel · HIP 44816 · HD 78647

A real star from the HYG catalog in the constellation Vela.

544.5 light-years away Apparent magnitude 2.23

K-type: orange and patient

Its spectral type is K4Ib-II: cooler and longer-lived than the Sun, and often considered prime habitable-zone hosts. From its measured color, its surface temperature is roughly 3,561 K (3,288 °C), an estimate computed from the catalog's color index.

How far away is it?

It lies about 545 light-years away (166.9 parsecs, from its measured parallax). The light reaching Earth tonight left it around the year 1,481.

How powerful is it?

Its computed luminosity is 3,113 times the Sun's output, a genuine searchlight (derived from its brightness and distance).

Can you see it?

At apparent magnitude 2.23, it is an easy naked-eye star under any reasonable sky. It favors southern observers.

It varies

This is a catalogued variable star (Lam): its brightness measurably changes over time, whether by pulsation, eclipses in a double system, or surface activity.

Everything above is computed from the catalog’s measured values for this star. Where a value is missing, the statement is omitted rather than guessed.

About this record

Data: the HYG stellar database v4.1 (Hipparcos + Yale + Gliese, CC BY-SA, © David Nash / astronexus). Want the full stories? Our deep star guides cover Sirius, Betelgeuse, Proxima Centauri, Vega and three dozen more. You can also browse the catalog or learn how stars live and die.