The AsterNym star registry
Alfarasalkamil
Alfarasalkamil: the blue-white star of Andromeda
blue-white · Andromeda · ο And
Alfarasalkamil is a blue-white star, the colour of the hottest, youngest suns in the constellation Andromeda, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 3.62 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Alfarasalkamil is not. Some IAU-recognised names are ancient; others were adopted by the IAU only recently. Either way, the star already has a scientific identity, and a dedication attaches a human story to it.
Real star · Personal dedication · Recorded in the AsterNym registry
See what a dedicated page looks like: preview
Alfarasalkamil at a glance
- Constellation
- Andromeda
- Other name
- ο And
- Catalogue number
- HIP 113726
- Distance
- ≈ 687 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 3.62 naked-eye
- Star type
- B6pv SB
- Colour
- blue-white
- Best seen from
- The Northern Hemisphere and lower southern latitudes
- Right ascension
- 23h 01m 55s
- Declination
- +42° 19′ 34″
J2000 catalogue coordinates that can be independently cross-checked against astronomical databases. A planetarium app showing coordinates of date will differ slightly, because proper motion and precession move a star’s apparent position over time.
What kind of star is Alfarasalkamil?
Alfarasalkamil is a blue-white star. Its surface runs somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000°C, which is what gives it a blue-white cast. Colour in a star is a temperature reading rather than a decoration: the hot ones are blue and the cool ones red, the opposite way round to a kitchen tap.
It is spending its fuel at a rate the Sun never will. Most of the bright stars in familiar constellations are this kind, which is why the night sky looks younger and hotter than the average star actually is.
A star of this class gets tens of millions of years, against the Sun's ten thousand million.
Alfarasalkamil barely moves against the background sky, which is mostly a statement about how far away it is. For every practical purpose, including yours, it is fixed.
The light you are looking at is old
Alfarasalkamil is about 687 light years away, so the light reaching you now set out around 1339. You are not looking at the star as it is. You are looking at the star as it was, and there is no way to see it any other way.
That delay is the part people find hardest and like most. A star is the one thing you can give someone that was already old before either of you was born and will outlast anything else you could have chosen.
It is comfortably visible without equipment on a decent night.
What could a Alfarasalkamil dedication represent?
Alfarasalkamil is especially meaningful for someone who:
- · Deserves something older than any gift shop
- · Marks a beginning, an anniversary or a promise
- · Is remembered every time you look up
- · Has a light you want recorded somewhere permanent
Dedication idea
“For the one I think of when I find Andromeda in the sky.”
Where can you see Alfarasalkamil?
It is easy to see from most of the Northern Hemisphere. It can also appear from lower southern latitudes, but it never rises for observers south of about latitude 48°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 42°N. It stands highest at midnight in September, so September and October evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 3.62 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
Alfarasalkamil belongs to Andromeda.
What does Alfarasalkamil mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Alfarasalkamil, and we don’t invent lore where none exists. What astrology can still read is the star’s real position, below.
Projected onto the zodiac the way fixed-star astrology reads any star, Alfarasalkamil stands at 7° Aries at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 28 March in the years around 2000. Fixed-star longitude shifts slowly against the tropical zodiac because of precession, about one degree every seventy-two years, so a natal conjunction must be calculated for the birth year rather than read off this J2000 value or a calendar date.
Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions. The position and dates are computed.
Dedicate Alfarasalkamil to someone who matters
A flower fades. A card is eventually put away. A star gives your message a place in the sky.
from$29.95a year
Dedicate Alfarasalkamil →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Alfarasalkamil dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Alfarasalkamil's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Alfarasalkamil keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Alfarasalkamil
- What does Alfarasalkamil mean in astrology?
- The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Alfarasalkamil. Projected onto the zodiac, Alfarasalkamil stands at 7° Aries, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 28 March.
- Is Alfarasalkamil the brightest star?
- Alfarasalkamil shines at magnitude 3.62 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
- How far away is Alfarasalkamil?
- Alfarasalkamil is approximately 687 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 687 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Alfarasalkamil?
- Alfarasalkamil is part of Andromeda.
- Can everyone see Alfarasalkamil?
- It is easy to see from most of the Northern Hemisphere. It can also appear from lower southern latitudes, but it never rises for observers south of about latitude 48°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 42°N. It stands highest at midnight in September, so September and October evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 3.62 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
- Is dedicating Alfarasalkamil an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Alfarasalkamil keeps its internationally recognised astronomical name. An AsterNym dedication records your personal name and message in the AsterNym registry without changing the star's scientific identity.
Explore nearby stars
