Adhara [key], bright star in the constellation Canis Major; Bayer designation ε Canis Majoris; 1992 position R.A. 6h58.3m, Dec. −31°54′. A bluish-white giant (spectral class B2 II) with apparent magnitude 1.5, it is one of the 25 brightest stars in the sky. Adhara is a visual binary star with combined luminosity about 8,000 times that of the sun; its distance is about 700 light-years. The name is from the Arabic meaning “virgin.”
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