HR 2140

As seen from Earth, HR 2140 appears as a faint orange-hued fifth-magnitude star in the southwestern corner of the constellation Lepus, near the point where that constellation instersects with Canis Major to the west, and Phoenix to the south. This star is a giant, significant larger and intrinsically brighter than the Sun, made faint by its distance of some 419 light years. At a distance of ten parsecs - the standard for measuring absolute magnitude - HR 2140 would be one of the brightest stars in the sky, rivalling Canopus in Carina.

More specifically, in comparison with the Sun, HR 2140 is estimated to have a diameter some thirty times greater, and to emit approxmately 260 times as much light. The star's spectrum places it in the K-type orange class, making it somewhat cooler relative to the Sun. Its spectrum also reveals that HR 2140 is relatively poor in metals, especially iron, which in turn suggests that it belongs to an older population of the Galaxy's stars, formed in an epoch before such metals were widespread. This is a multiple star, though the details of the system are unclear; it appears to possess at least three identified companion stars, with indications of possible additional members of its system.