The AsterNym star registry
Lerna
Lerna: the pale star of Hydra
pale · Hydra · HAT-P-42
Lerna is a pale star in the constellation Hydra, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 12.00 it is a binocular or telescope object.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Lerna 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
Lerna at a glance
- Constellation
- Hydra
- Other name
- HAT-P-42
- Catalogue number
- HAT-P-42
- Distance
- ≈ 1,350 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 12.00 telescope
- Colour
- pale
- Best seen from
- Almost everywhere on Earth
- Right ascension
- 09h 01m 23s
- Declination
- +06° 05′ 50″
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 Lerna?
Lerna is catalogued as a pale star and its spectral type is not cleanly classified in the data behind this page, so what follows stays with what has been measured rather than what could be inferred from it.
The light you are looking at is old
Lerna is about 1,350 light years away, so the light reaching you now set out around 676. You are not looking at the star as it is. You are looking at the star as it was, and there is no way to see it any other way.
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 Lerna dedication represent?
Lerna 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 Hydra in the sky.”
Where can you see Lerna?
It sits 6° north of the celestial equator, so it clears the horizon everywhere short of latitude 84°S, in practice, every inhabited latitude on Earth. It passes directly overhead at latitude 6°N. It stands highest at midnight in February, so February and March evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 12.00 it sits below naked-eye reach; binoculars or a small telescope will find it.
Lerna belongs to Hydra.
What does Lerna mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Lerna, 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, Lerna stands at 15° Leo at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 5 August 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 Lerna 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 Lerna →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Lerna dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Lerna's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Lerna keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Lerna
- What does Lerna mean in astrology?
- The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Lerna. Projected onto the zodiac, Lerna stands at 15° Leo, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 5 August.
- Is Lerna the brightest star?
- Lerna shines at magnitude 12.00 · a binocular-and-telescope star, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
- How far away is Lerna?
- Lerna is approximately 1,350 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 1,350 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Lerna?
- Lerna is part of Hydra.
- Can everyone see Lerna?
- It sits 6° north of the celestial equator, so it clears the horizon everywhere short of latitude 84°S, in practice, every inhabited latitude on Earth. It passes directly overhead at latitude 6°N. It stands highest at midnight in February, so February and March evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 12.00 it sits below naked-eye reach; binoculars or a small telescope will find it.
- Is dedicating Lerna an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Lerna 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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