Arneb, Alpha Leporis, HD 36673, HIP 25985 and permanent object 761 identify the same target. SIMBAD classifies it F0 Ib and records visual magnitude about 2.58. The F type describes a yellow-white photosphere, while luminosity class Ib denotes a lower-luminosity supergiant rather than a dwarf like the Sun. Source: [SIMBAD, Alpha Leporis](https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=Alpha+Leporis).
Lyubimkov and collaborators derived an effective temperature near 6,850 kelvin and logarithmic surface gravity 1.34 for Arneb. Their adopted distance was about 680 parsecs, or 2,200 light-years. Comparison with evolutionary tracks yielded roughly 13.9 solar masses and an age near 13 million years. Those last quantities depend on stellar-evolution models, whereas temperature and gravity are spectroscopic inferences; the distinction matters for a rapidly evolving massive star. Source: [Lyubimkov et al., *Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society* 446, 3447](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/446/4/3447/2892180).
The same abundance study examined carbon and the nitrogen-to-carbon ratio in A-, F- and G-type supergiants. Most program stars, including the physical regime represented by Arneb, showed depleted surface carbon and enhanced nitrogen relative to an unevolved composition. The interpretation is that material exposed to the carbon–nitrogen cycle has been mixed outward. The spectrum does not let observers watch a nuclear reaction directly; it samples the photosphere after internal processing and transport have changed the visible mixture.
Low surface gravity is the other clue to Arneb's state. A massive star can have strong gravity in an absolute sense, but once its outer layers expand to supergiant dimensions, gravity at the photosphere falls far below that of a compact dwarf. Temperature alone would not separate an F-type supergiant from a much less luminous F-type main-sequence star. Luminosity-sensitive line shapes, distance and evolutionary modelling complete the picture.
Arneb comes from the Arabic word for “hare,” directly matching the constellation Lepus. The IAU standardizes the proper name for Alpha Leporis. Alpha is the Bayer letter and describes its place in the historical constellation naming scheme, not a physical relationship to the other Lepus stars. Source: [IAU, Naming Stars](https://www.iau.org/public/themes/naming_stars/).
The repository position is approximately right ascension 5h 33m and declination −17° 49′. Arneb culminates only about 27° above an ideal southern horizon from latitude 45° N, but about 72° high from 35° S. Those original calculations ignore refraction, haze, buildings and whether culmination occurs in darkness.
Find Orion first, then drop south to the compact quadrilateral of Lepus. Arneb is its bright northern corner; Nihal lies about 3° to the south, slightly west. Confirm both stars and the remaining outline rather than selecting the first bright point below Orion. HIP 25985 occurs in the accepted figure geometry, but the rendered finder and reader link remain unchecked.
Arneb is normally visible to the unaided eye and easy in binoculars. A small telescope shows a bright unresolved point, not a swollen disk or dredged-up material. Its pale yellow-white colour is best judged near culmination and by comparison with nearby stars, because low altitude can redden it strongly for northern observers. Record colour separately from extinction and leave the week's Moon and transparency to the calendar.
