The AsterNym star registry
Denebola
Denebola: the white star of Leo
white · Leo · β Leo
Denebola is a white star, burning hotter than our own Sun in the constellation Leo, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 2.14 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Denebola 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
Denebola at a glance
- Constellation
- Leo
- Other name
- β Leo
- Catalogue number
- HIP 57632
- Distance
- ≈ 36 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 2.14 naked-eye
- Star type
- A3 V
- Colour
- white
- Best seen from
- Almost everywhere on Earth
- Right ascension
- 11h 49m 04s
- Declination
- +14° 34′ 19″
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 Denebola?
Denebola 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.
The light you are looking at is old
The light you can see from Denebola left in 1990, 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 Denebola mean?
The traditional name Denebola is shortened from, from the Arabic phrase ذنب الاسد ' 'tail of the lion', as it represents the lion's tail, the star's position in the Leo constellation'.
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 Denebola dedication represent?
Denebola 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 Leo in the sky.”
Where can you see Denebola?
It sits 15° north of the celestial equator, so it clears the horizon everywhere short of latitude 75°S, in practice, every inhabited latitude on Earth. It passes directly overhead at latitude 15°N. It stands highest at midnight in March, so March and April evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 2.14 it is an easy naked-eye star from any reasonably dark spot.
Denebola belongs to Leo.
What does Denebola mean in astrology?
The Lion's tail. In the tradition a station of reversals: nature of Saturn and Venus, honours that arrive off the main road. Success out of the mainstream, and swift changes of standing.
Projected onto the zodiac the way fixed-star astrology reads any star, Denebola stands at 21° Virgo at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 10 September 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 Denebola 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 Denebola →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Denebola dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Denebola's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Denebola keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Denebola
- What does Denebola mean in astrology?
- The Lion's tail. In the tradition a station of reversals: nature of Saturn and Venus, honours that arrive off the main road. Success out of the mainstream, and swift changes of standing. Projected onto the zodiac, Denebola stands at 21° Virgo, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 10 September.
- Is Denebola the brightest star?
- Denebola shines at magnitude 2.14 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
- How far away is Denebola?
- Denebola is approximately 36 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 36 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Denebola?
- Denebola is part of Leo.
- Can everyone see Denebola?
- It sits 15° north of the celestial equator, so it clears the horizon everywhere short of latitude 75°S, in practice, every inhabited latitude on Earth. It passes directly overhead at latitude 15°N. It stands highest at midnight in March, so March and April evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 2.14 it is an easy naked-eye star from any reasonably dark spot.
- Is dedicating Denebola an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Denebola 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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