Beta Cancri

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β Cancri
Observation data
Epoch J2000.0
Constellation
(pronunciation)		 Cancer
Right ascension 08h16m30.9s
Declination +9°11′08″
Apparent magnitude (V) +3.50
Distance 290 ± 25 ly
(89 ± 8 pc)
Spectral type K4IIIBa0.5
Other designations
Altarf, Al Tarf, Tarf, 17 Cancri, HR 3249, HD 69267, BD+09°1917, FK5 312, HIP 40526, SAO 116569, GC 11254, ADS 6704, CCDM 08165+0911

Beta Cancri (β Cnc / β Cancri) is the brightest star in the constellation Cancer. It also has the traditional name Altarf, also known as al-Tarf (Arabic for "the tip"). It is approximately 290 light years from Earth.

The primary component, β Cancri A, is an orange K-type giant with an apparent magnitude of +3.50 and absolute magnitude of -1.25 (visual). It has a faint, fourteenth magnitude companion, β Cancri B, located 29 arcseconds from the primary.

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