The AsterNym star registry
Kraz
Kraz: the yellow star of Corvus
yellow · Corvus · β Crv
Kraz is a yellow star in the constellation Corvus, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 2.65 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Kraz 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
Kraz at a glance
- Constellation
- Corvus
- Other name
- β Crv
- Catalogue number
- HIP 61359
- Distance
- ≈ 140 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 2.65 naked-eye
- Star type
- G5 II
- Colour
- yellow
- Best seen from
- Almost everywhere on Earth
- Right ascension
- 12h 34m 23s
- Declination
- −23° 23′ 47″
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 Kraz?
Kraz is a yellow bright 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 sits between a giant and a supergiant: already expanded well beyond its original size, already past the steady middle of its life, and bright enough to be picked out from a very long way off.
The light you are looking at is old
The light arriving from Kraz tonight left in about 1886, some 140 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 is comfortably visible without equipment on a decent night.
What could a Kraz dedication represent?
Kraz 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 Corvus in the sky.”
Where can you see Kraz?
It sits 23° south of the celestial equator, so it clears the horizon everywhere short of latitude 67°N, in practice, every inhabited latitude on Earth. It passes directly overhead at latitude 23°S. It stands highest at midnight in March, so March and April evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 2.65 it is an easy naked-eye star from any reasonably dark spot.
Kraz belongs to Corvus.
What does Kraz mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Kraz, 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, Kraz stands at 17° Libra at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 6 October 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 Kraz 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 Kraz →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Kraz dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Kraz's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Kraz keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Kraz
- What does Kraz mean in astrology?
- The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Kraz. Projected onto the zodiac, Kraz stands at 17° Libra, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 6 October.
- Is Kraz the brightest star?
- Kraz shines at magnitude 2.65 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
- How far away is Kraz?
- Kraz is approximately 140 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 140 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Kraz?
- Kraz is part of Corvus.
- Can everyone see Kraz?
- It sits 23° south of the celestial equator, so it clears the horizon everywhere short of latitude 67°N, in practice, every inhabited latitude on Earth. It passes directly overhead at latitude 23°S. It stands highest at midnight in March, so March and April evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 2.65 it is an easy naked-eye star from any reasonably dark spot.
- Is dedicating Kraz an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Kraz 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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