Itonda

Itonda at a glance

Constellation

Grus

Other name

HD 208487

Catalogue number

HIP 108375

Distance

≈ 150 light-years

Brightness

Magnitude 7.47 telescope

Star type

G2V:

Colour

golden

Best seen from

The Southern Hemisphere and lower northern latitudes

Right ascension

21h 57m 20s

Declination

−37° 45′ 49″

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 Itonda?

Itonda 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.

Itonda drifts about 15.6 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 arriving from Itonda tonight left in about 1876, some 150 years ago. Everything that has happened since, every person you have heard of from the last few centuries, happened while it was in transit.

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 sits at the edge of what an unaided eye can do, so finding it is a deliberate act rather than an accident.

Where can you see Itonda?

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 52°N. It passes directly overhead at latitude 38°S. It stands highest at midnight in August, so August and September evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 7.47 it sits below naked-eye reach; binoculars or a small telescope will find it.

Itonda belongs to Grus.

What does Itonda mean in astrology?

The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Itonda, 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, Itonda stands at 17° Aquarius at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 6 February 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.

Frequently asked questions about Itonda

What does Itonda mean in astrology?

The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Itonda. Projected onto the zodiac, Itonda stands at 17° Aquarius, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 6 February.

Is Itonda the brightest star?

Itonda shines at magnitude 7.47 · a binocular-and-telescope star, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.

How far away is Itonda?

Itonda is approximately 150 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 150 years ago.

Which constellation contains Itonda?

Itonda is part of Grus.

Can everyone see Itonda?

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 52°N. It passes directly overhead at latitude 38°S. It stands highest at midnight in August, so August and September evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 7.47 it sits below naked-eye reach; binoculars or a small telescope will find it.

Is dedicating Itonda an official astronomical renaming?

No. Itonda 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

• Alnair in Grus
• Tiaki in Grus
• Aldhanab in Grus
• Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky