Alrumh, painted as a deep red star

The AsterNym star registry

Alrumh

Alrumh: the deep red star of Boötes

deep red · Boötes · 34 Bootis

Alrumh is a deep red star in the constellation Boötes, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 4.79 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.

Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Alrumh 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

Alrumh at a glance

Constellation
Boötes
Other name
34 Bootis
Catalogue number
HIP 71995
Distance
≈ 704 light-years
Brightness
Magnitude 4.79 naked-eye
Star type
M3III
Colour
deep red
Best seen from
The Northern Hemisphere and lower southern latitudes
Right ascension
14h 43m 25s
Declination
+26° 31′ 40″

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 Alrumh?

Alrumh is a red giant. Its surface runs under 4,000°C, which is cool as stars go and why the colour is unmistakably red. 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 red star still in the steady part of its life would burn for longer than the universe has yet existed. 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 giant, which is what a star becomes when it exhausts the hydrogen in its core. It has swollen outward and cooled at the surface, and it is now brighter than it ever was as a young star. The Sun will do this too, in about five thousand million years.

Alrumh 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

Alrumh is about 704 light years away, so the light reaching you now set out around 1322. 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 Alrumh dedication represent?

Alrumh 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 Boötes in the sky.”

Dedicate Alrumh →

Where can you see Alrumh?

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 63°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 27°N. It stands highest at midnight in May, so May and June evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 4.79 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.

Alrumh belongs to Boötes.

What does Alrumh mean in astrology?

The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Alrumh, 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, Alrumh stands at 27° Libra at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 17 October 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 Alrumh 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 Alrumh →

Real star · your message · a page to share

Your Alrumh dedication includes

  • Your chosen dedication name
  • Your personal message
  • Alrumh's real astronomical coordinates
  • A shareable dedication page
  • Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
  • An optional printable certificate and gift presentation

Alrumh keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.

Frequently asked questions about Alrumh

What does Alrumh mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Alrumh. Projected onto the zodiac, Alrumh stands at 27° Libra, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 17 October.
Is Alrumh the brightest star?
Alrumh shines at magnitude 4.79 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
How far away is Alrumh?
Alrumh is approximately 704 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 704 years ago.
Which constellation contains Alrumh?
Alrumh is part of Boötes.
Can everyone see Alrumh?
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 63°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 27°N. It stands highest at midnight in May, so May and June evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 4.79 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
Is dedicating Alrumh an official astronomical renaming?
No. Alrumh 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

The constellation Boötes, its stars sized by brightness and coloured by spectral type
Boötes, drawn from catalogued positions: brighter stars are larger, and the colours follow spectral type. North is up and east is left, the sky-chart convention, so it is mirrored against a map of the ground. The joining lines are one drawing convention among several; the IAU fixes the boundaries, not the figure.
AsterNym dedications are personal commemorative records: they are not recognized by the International Astronomical Union, do not change scientific catalogue names, and do not confer ownership of a star.