Stars · Star
Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, calculated from its measured temperature to a cool white.
Featured palette: Calculated blackbody colour at 9,845 K (Calculated from this model)
#CEDAFF
#CEDAFFAbout Sirius
Sirius A is a main-sequence star with a measured effective temperature of 9,845 ± 64 K. It has a faint white-dwarf companion, Sirius B.
| Classification | Star |
|---|---|
| Identifiers | α Canis Majoris A |
| Spectral type | A0mA1Vaspectral type (SIMBAD * alf CMa; ref 2003AJ....126.2048G) · CDS, Strasbourg |
| Effective temperature | 9,845 K ± 64 Keffective temperature (photosphere) · MNRAS / arXiv |
| Distance | 8.60 light-years ± 0.036 light-yearsdistance from parallax 379.21 ± 1.58 mas (SIMBAD; ref 2007A&A...474..653V) · CDS, Strasbourg |
Why these colours?
A calculated white
At nearly 10,000 K, a blackbody is a slightly bluish white. This is a model of the star’s colour, not a photograph.
From: Calculated blackbody colour at 9,845 K Calculated visible-colour model
Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.
Colours from selected views
Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Sirius.
Calculated blackbody colour at 9,845 K
Calculated from this model · Calculated blackbody colour at 9,845 K
#CEDAFFRGB 206, 218, 255region average
See where these colours came from
Creative palettes inspired by Sirius
A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.
Sirius Cool
Inspired by this object
#40475CRGB 64, 71, 92from #CEDAFF#838EB0RGB 131, 142, 176from #CEDAFF#D3DDFDRGB 211, 221, 253from #CEDAFF
Sirius’s calculated white softened into a cool pastel.
Explore the views and the 3D model
Pick a colour from the image. Click or tap the picture to read a colour. Picked colours are yours, not catalogue samples.
Schematic sphere A plain sphere tinted with the anchor colour of the named view; it shows no surface detail and no measured shape. Objects are enlarged or scaled for inspection unless stated otherwise.
Use these colours
Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.
Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.
Questions about Sirius’s colours
Is Sirius bluer than the Sun?
Its measured temperature, 9,845 K, is much higher than the Sun’s 5,772 K, so its calculated colour is a cooler, slightly bluish white.
Sources
- The angular diameter and fundamental parameters of Sirius A (Davis, Jacob, Robertson et al. 2011, MNRAS 413, 1200) — MNRAS / arXiv
- Stars in an Exoplanet World — NASA
- CIE 1931 2° colour-matching functions (CIE 018:2019, Table 6) — CIE
- SIMBAD astronomical database — CDS, Strasbourg
Image credits
Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision b50064e1eaad. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.