The AsterNym star registry
Altais
Altais: the golden star of Draco
golden · Draco · δ Dra
Altais is a golden star, warmer-toned than our Sun in the constellation Draco, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 3.07 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Altais 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
Altais at a glance
- Constellation
- Draco
- Other name
- δ Dra
- Catalogue number
- HIP 94376
- Distance
- ≈ 97 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 3.07 naked-eye
- Star type
- G9III
- Colour
- golden
- Best seen from
- The far northern sky
- Right ascension
- 19h 12m 33s
- Declination
- +67° 39′ 42″
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 Altais?
Altais is a yellow giant. Its surface runs about 5,500°C, near enough the Sun's own surface temperature. 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 star still in the steady part of its life would burn for about ten 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 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.
Altais drifts about 13.2 arcseconds a century against the stars behind it. Slow by any human measure, and still enough that the sky your distant descendants see will not be the one in your photographs.
The light you are looking at is old
The light you can see from Altais left in 1929, which puts it roughly a lifetime ago. Nobody has invented anything since then that the light knows about; it has simply been travelling.
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 Altais mean?
The title Altais was derived from Arabic Al Tāis "the Goat", the association of this star, along with Pi Draconis, Rho Draconis and Epsilon Draconis (Tyl).
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 Altais dedication represent?
Altais 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 Altais?
It is a deep-northern star: easy from Europe, North America and northern Asia, but it never rises for observers south of about latitude 22°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 68°N. It stands highest at midnight in July, so July and August evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 3.07 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
Altais belongs to Draco.
What does Altais mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Altais, 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, Altais stands at 17° Aries at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 6 April 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 Altais 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 Altais →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Altais dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Altais's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Altais keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Altais
- What does Altais mean in astrology?
- The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Altais. Projected onto the zodiac, Altais stands at 17° Aries, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 6 April.
- Is Altais the brightest star?
- Altais shines at magnitude 3.07 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
- How far away is Altais?
- Altais is approximately 97 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 97 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Altais?
- Altais is part of Draco.
- Can everyone see Altais?
- It is a deep-northern star: easy from Europe, North America and northern Asia, but it never rises for observers south of about latitude 22°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 68°N. It stands highest at midnight in July, so July and August evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 3.07 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
- Is dedicating Altais an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Altais 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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