The AsterNym star registry
Alruba
Alruba: the white star of Draco
white · Draco · HR 6618
Alruba is a white star, burning hotter than our own Sun in the constellation Draco, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 5.75 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Alruba 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
Alruba at a glance
- Constellation
- Draco
- Other name
- HR 6618
- Catalogue number
- HIP 86782
- Distance
- ≈ 533 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 5.75 naked-eye
- Star type
- A2V
- Colour
- white
- Best seen from
- The Northern Hemisphere and lower southern latitudes
- Right ascension
- 17h 43m 59s
- Declination
- +53° 48′ 06″
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 Alruba?
Alruba is a white main-sequence star. Its surface runs around 7,500 to 10,000°C, hot enough to look white or blue-white to the eye. 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.
These are the classic bright white stars. Sirius and Vega are both this kind, and they are the reason people describe stars as white when most of the galaxy's stars are actually red and too faint to see.
A star of this class gets roughly a thousand million years, a tenth of what the Sun gets.
It is a main-sequence star, which despite the word dwarf simply means it is in the long stable middle of its life, fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun is doing now.
Alruba 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
Alruba is about 533 light years away, so the light reaching you now set out around 1493. 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 sits at the edge of what an unaided eye can do, so finding it is a deliberate act rather than an accident.
What could a Alruba dedication represent?
Alruba 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 Draco in the sky.”
Where can you see Alruba?
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 36°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 54°N. It stands highest at midnight in June, so June and July evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 5.75 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
Alruba belongs to Draco.
What does Alruba mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Alruba, 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, Alruba stands at 19° Sagittarius at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 8 December 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 Alruba 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 Alruba →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Alruba dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Alruba's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Alruba keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Alruba
- What does Alruba mean in astrology?
- The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Alruba. Projected onto the zodiac, Alruba stands at 19° Sagittarius, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 8 December.
- Is Alruba the brightest star?
- Alruba shines at magnitude 5.75 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
- How far away is Alruba?
- Alruba is approximately 533 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 533 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Alruba?
- Alruba is part of Draco.
- Can everyone see Alruba?
- 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 36°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 54°N. It stands highest at midnight in June, so June and July evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 5.75 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
- Is dedicating Alruba an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Alruba 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
