The AsterNym star registry
Krios
Krios: the warm orange star of Cassiopeia
warm orange · Cassiopeia · HD 240429
Krios is a warm orange giant, far along its stellar life in the constellation Cassiopeia, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 9.70 it is a binocular or telescope object.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Krios 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
Krios at a glance
- Constellation
- Cassiopeia
- Other name
- HD 240429
- Catalogue number
- HD 240429
- Distance
- ≈ 334 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 9.70 telescope
- Star type
- K0
- Colour
- warm orange
- Best seen from
- The Northern Hemisphere and lower southern latitudes
- Right ascension
- 23h 51m 55s
- Declination
- +59° 42′ 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 Krios?
Krios is an orange star. 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.
Nothing of this kind has ever died of old age, anywhere, because the universe is not old enough yet. Every one that has ever formed is still burning.
A star of this class gets twenty to fifty thousand million years, far longer than the universe has yet existed.
The light you are looking at is old
The light arriving from Krios tonight left in about 1692, some 334 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.
What could a Krios dedication represent?
Krios 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 Cassiopeia in the sky.”
Where can you see Krios?
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 30°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 60°N. It stands highest at midnight in September, so September and October evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 9.70 it sits below naked-eye reach; binoculars or a small telescope will find it.
Krios belongs to Cassiopeia.
What does Krios mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Krios, 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, Krios stands at 2° Taurus at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 22 April 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 Krios 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 Krios →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Krios dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Krios's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Krios keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Krios
- What does Krios mean in astrology?
- The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Krios. Projected onto the zodiac, Krios stands at 2° Taurus, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 22 April.
- Is Krios the brightest star?
- Krios shines at magnitude 9.70 · a binocular-and-telescope star, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
- How far away is Krios?
- Krios is approximately 334 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 334 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Krios?
- Krios is part of Cassiopeia.
- Can everyone see Krios?
- 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 30°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 60°N. It stands highest at midnight in September, so September and October evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 9.70 it sits below naked-eye reach; binoculars or a small telescope will find it.
- Is dedicating Krios an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Krios 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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