Bellatrix
variable star in the constellation Orion
Bellatrix is the third-brightest star in the constellation of Orion, positioned 5° west of the red supergiant Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis). It has the Bayer designation γ Orionis, which is Latinized to Gamma Orionis. With a slightly variable magnitude of around 1.6, it is typically the 25th-brightest star in the night sky. At only 244.6 light-years from the Solar System, it is the closest major star in Orion.
Nomenclature
The traditional name Bellatrix is from the Latin bellātrix "female warrior". It first appeared in the works of Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi and Johannes Hispalensis, where it originally referred to Capella, but was transferred to Gamma Orionis by the Vienna school of astronomers in the 15th century, and appeared in contemporary reprints of the Alfonsine tables. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN, which included Bellatrix for this star. It is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. The designation of Bellatrix as γ Orionis (Latinized to Gamma Orionis) was made by Johann Bayer in 1603.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q13066. VIAF identifies the subject as 6800163464732705680000. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2016 and 1603.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bellatrix” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.