Suhail

Deeply orange in tint, with a colour index of 1.665 among the highest recorded here, Suhail is a cool K-type star holding the Lambda designation of Vela, the Sails. It lies roughly 545 light-years from the Solar System and shines at apparent magnitude 2.23. That modest apparent brightness belies an absolute magnitude of −3.88, marking Suhail as an intrinsically luminous evolved star whose true output is heavily diminished by distance. Its strong reddish colouring sets it apart from the hotter blue and white stars that share the constellation of the Sails, and its combination of high luminosity and great distance is typical of the cooler supergiant class.