The AsterNym star registry
Guniibuu
Guniibuu: the warm orange star of Ophiuchus
warm orange · Ophiuchus · HR 6402
Guniibuu is a warm orange giant, far along its stellar life in the constellation Ophiuchus, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 5.07 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Guniibuu 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
Guniibuu at a glance
- Constellation
- Ophiuchus
- Other name
- HR 6402
- Catalogue number
- HIP 84405
- Distance
- ≈ 19.0 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 5.07 naked-eye
- Star type
- K2:III:
- Colour
- warm orange
- Best seen from
- The Southern Hemisphere and lower northern latitudes
- Right ascension
- 17h 15m 21s
- Declination
- −26° 35′ 56″
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 Guniibuu?
Guniibuu is an orange giant. Its surface runs roughly 4,000 to 5,000°C, cool enough that the light carries a visible orange. 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. An orange star still in the steady part of its life would burn for tens of thousands of millions of 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.
Guniibuu is one of the fastest-moving stars in the sky. It shifts about 124 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
Light travels fast but not instantly, so what reaches your eye from Guniibuu tonight set out in 2007. That is inside a single lifetime. Someone alive now was already alive when this particular light left.
Distance is also the honest limit of what a star can be to you. It is a real object, unimaginably large, and it does not know you exist. What it can be is a fixed point you agreed to attach a meaning to, which is the oldest use people have ever had for the sky.
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 Guniibuu dedication represent?
Guniibuu 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 Ophiuchus in the sky.”
Where can you see Guniibuu?
It is easy to see from much of the Southern Hemisphere. It can also appear from lower northern latitudes, but it never rises for observers north of about latitude 63°N. It passes directly overhead at latitude 27°S. It stands highest at midnight in June, so June and July evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 5.07 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
Guniibuu belongs to Ophiuchus.
What does Guniibuu mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Guniibuu, 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, Guniibuu stands at 20° Sagittarius at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 9 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 Guniibuu 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 Guniibuu →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Guniibuu dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Guniibuu's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Guniibuu keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Guniibuu
- What does Guniibuu mean in astrology?
- The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Guniibuu. Projected onto the zodiac, Guniibuu stands at 20° Sagittarius, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 9 December.
- Is Guniibuu the brightest star?
- Guniibuu shines at magnitude 5.07 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
- How far away is Guniibuu?
- Guniibuu is approximately 19.0 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 19 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Guniibuu?
- Guniibuu is part of Ophiuchus.
- Can everyone see Guniibuu?
- It is easy to see from much of the Southern Hemisphere. It can also appear from lower northern latitudes, but it never rises for observers north of about latitude 63°N. It passes directly overhead at latitude 27°S. It stands highest at midnight in June, so June and July evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 5.07 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
- Is dedicating Guniibuu an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Guniibuu 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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