Canopus is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Carina and the second-brightest star in the night sky. It is designated α Carinae, which is romanized (transliterated) to Alpha Carinae. With a visual apparent magnitude of −0.74, it is outshone only by Sirius.
Located around 310Â light-years from the Sun, Canopus is a bright giant of spectral type A9, so it is essentially white when seen with the naked eye. It has a luminosity over 10,000 times the luminosity of the Sun, is nine to ten times as massive, and has expanded to 71 times the Sun's radius. Its enlarged photosphere has an effective temperature of around 7400Â K. Canopus is undergoing core helium burning and is currently in the so-called blue loop phase of its evolution, having already passed through the red-giant branch after exhausting the hydrogen in its core. Canopus is a source of X-rays, which are likely being emitted from its corona.