The AsterNym star registry
Almaaz
Almaaz: the yellow-white star of Auriga
yellow-white · Auriga · ε Aur
Almaaz is a yellow-white star, a near cousin of our own Sun's colour in the constellation Auriga, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 3.03 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Almaaz 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
Almaaz at a glance
- Constellation
- Auriga
- Other name
- ε Aur
- Catalogue number
- HIP 23416
- Distance
- ≈ 2,132 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 3.03 naked-eye
- Star type
- F0Ia
- Colour
- yellow-white
- Best seen from
- The Northern Hemisphere and lower southern latitudes
- Right ascension
- 05h 01m 58s
- Declination
- +43° 49′ 24″
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 Almaaz?
Almaaz is a yellow-white supergiant. Its surface runs about 6,000 to 7,500°C, a shade hotter than the Sun. 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.
Its colour is not the whole story. A yellow-white star still in the steady part of its life would burn for two to four thousand million years. This one is past that stage, and it is cool at the surface because it has swollen outward, not because it was born this way.
It is a supergiant, which means it has left the stable part of its life and swollen enormously. Put it where the Sun is and its surface would swallow the inner planets. Stars this size do not fade quietly; this one will end as a supernova, and on a human timescale that could be tonight or in a million years.
Almaaz 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
Almaaz is about 2,132 light years away, so the light reaching you now set out around -106. 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 does the name Almaaz mean?
Richard Hinckley Allen reported that Oxford scholar Thomas Hyde recorded the traditional name Almaaz in his 1665 translation of the catalogue of Ulugh Beg, which he identified with the Arabic Al Maʽaz "the billy goat", corresponding to the name of the star Capella (Latin for "nanny goat").
Name origin from English Wikipedia. AsterNym does not invent an etymology where none is recorded, and most stars in this catalogue have none: they carry modern names, or a catalogue designation and nothing older.
What could a Almaaz dedication represent?
Almaaz 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 Auriga in the sky.”
Where can you see Almaaz?
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 46°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 44°N. It stands highest at midnight in December, so December and January evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 3.03 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
Almaaz belongs to Auriga.
What does Almaaz mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Almaaz, 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, Almaaz stands at 18° Gemini at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 8 June 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 Almaaz 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 Almaaz →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Almaaz dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Almaaz's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Almaaz keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Almaaz
- What does Almaaz mean in astrology?
- The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Almaaz. Projected onto the zodiac, Almaaz stands at 18° Gemini, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 8 June.
- Is Almaaz the brightest star?
- Almaaz shines at magnitude 3.03 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
- How far away is Almaaz?
- Almaaz is approximately 2,132 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 2,132 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Almaaz?
- Almaaz is part of Auriga.
- Can everyone see Almaaz?
- 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 46°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 44°N. It stands highest at midnight in December, so December and January evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 3.03 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
- Is dedicating Almaaz an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Almaaz 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.
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