Alpha Camelopardalis

Alpha Camelopardalis (Alpha Cam, α Camelopardalis, α Cam) is a massive blue star with a stellar classification of O9 Ia, with the 'Ia' indicating that it is an O-type luminous supergiant. The effective temperature of the outer envelope is 30,000 K giving it the characteristic blue hue of an O-type star. It is a weak X-ray emitter.

This star shows multiple patterns of variability. It may be a non-radial pulsating variable star, which is causing changes in the spectrum being emitted by the photosphere. The absorption lines in the optical spectrum show radial velocity variations, although there is significant uncertainty about the period. Estimates range from a period as low as 0.36 days up to 2.93 days. The stellar wind from this star is not smooth and continuous, but instead shows a behavior indicating clumping at both large and small scales. This star is losing mass rapidly through its stellar wind at a rate of approximately 6.3 × 10⁻⁶ standard masses per year.

Based on the criteria that the proper motion of this star indicates a space velocity of greater than 30 km/s, Alpha Camelopardalis was suggested as a candidate runaway star that had been ejected from the cluster NGC 1502. This was based upon the kinematic properties of the star and cluster, as well as the location of this star at a high galactic latitude in an area otherwise lacking in stellar associations.

Runaway stars such as this with a stellar wind that is moving at supersonic velocity through the interstellar medium have their wind confined by a bow shock due to ram pressure. The dust in this bow shock can be detected using an infrared telescope. The star is traveling at a rate of somewhere between 680 and 4,200 kilometers per second: between 1.5 and 9.4 million mph.