11 Orionis

A white star in the northwestern parts of Orion, northward from the end of the arc of stars known as Orion's Shield, and eastward from the bright orange star Aldebaran in the constellation of Taurus. At fifth magnitude, 11 Orionis is faint, but can usually be seen with the naked eye under suitable conditions.

11 Orionis lies more than four hundred light years from the Solar System. It is considerably more luminous than the Sun, producing approximately 150 times as much light energy, and is notable for unusually high levels of certain metals, especially silicon and strontium. These metals appear to be unevenly distributed within the star, so that as it rotates over a period of nearly five days, its brightness fluctuates slightly, causing its visual magnitude to vary from +4.65 to +4.69.