Deltoton, painted as a golden star

The AsterNym star registry

Deltoton

Deltoton: the golden star of Triangulum

golden · Triangulum · δ Tri

Deltoton is a golden star, warmer-toned than our Sun in the constellation Triangulum, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 4.83 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.

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

Deltoton at a glance

Constellation
Triangulum
Other name
δ Tri
Catalogue number
HIP 10644
Distance
≈ 35 light-years
Brightness
Magnitude 4.83 naked-eye
Star type
G0V
Colour
golden
Best seen from
The Northern Hemisphere and lower southern latitudes
Right ascension
02h 17m 03s
Declination
+34° 13′ 27″

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 Deltoton?

Deltoton is a yellow main-sequence star. 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.

This is the Sun's class. Looking at a star like this is the closest you get to seeing what our own star looks like from outside, which is a stranger thought than it first sounds.

A star of this class gets around ten thousand million years, and the Sun is halfway through its own.

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.

Deltoton is one of the fastest-moving stars in the sky. It shifts about 118 arcseconds every century, which sounds tiny and is not: over a human lifetime it visibly changes position against the stars behind it. The constellations are not fixed, they are just slow, and this one is in a hurry.

The light you are looking at is old

The light you can see from Deltoton left in 1991, 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 Deltoton mean?

Deltoton was an ancient Greek name of the constellation Triangulum, so named because the capital Greek letter delta is shaped like a triangle.

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 Deltoton dedication represent?

Deltoton 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 Triangulum in the sky.”

Dedicate Deltoton →

Where can you see Deltoton?

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 56°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 34°N. It stands highest at midnight in October, so October and November evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 4.83 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.

Deltoton belongs to Triangulum.

What does Deltoton mean in astrology?

The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Deltoton, 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, Deltoton stands at 13° Taurus at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 3 May 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 Deltoton 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 Deltoton →

Real star · your message · a page to share

Your Deltoton dedication includes

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

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

Frequently asked questions about Deltoton

What does Deltoton mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Deltoton. Projected onto the zodiac, Deltoton stands at 13° Taurus, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 3 May.
Is Deltoton the brightest star?
Deltoton shines at magnitude 4.83 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
How far away is Deltoton?
Deltoton is approximately 35 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 35 years ago.
Which constellation contains Deltoton?
Deltoton is part of Triangulum.
Can everyone see Deltoton?
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 56°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 34°N. It stands highest at midnight in October, so October and November evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 4.83 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
Is dedicating Deltoton an official astronomical renaming?
No. Deltoton 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 Triangulum, its stars sized by brightness and coloured by spectral type
Triangulum, 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.