The AsterNym star registry
Mebsuta
Mebsuta: the yellow star of Gemini
yellow · Gemini · ε Gem
Mebsuta is a yellow star in the constellation Gemini, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 2.98 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Mebsuta 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
Mebsuta at a glance
- Constellation
- Gemini
- Other name
- ε Gem
- Catalogue number
- HIP 32246
- Distance
- ≈ 840 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 2.98 naked-eye
- Star type
- G8 Ib
- Colour
- yellow
- Best seen from
- The Northern Hemisphere and lower southern latitudes
- Right ascension
- 06h 43m 58s
- Declination
- +25° 07′ 52″
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 Mebsuta?
Mebsuta is a yellow supergiant. 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 is a supergiant, which means it has left the stable part of its life and swollen enormously. Put it where the Sun is and its surface would swallow the inner planets. Stars this size do not fade quietly; this one will end as a supernova, and on a human timescale that could be tonight or in a million years.
Mebsuta barely moves against the background sky, which is mostly a statement about how far away it is. For every practical purpose, including yours, it is fixed.
The light you are looking at is old
Mebsuta is about 840 light years away, so the light reaching you now set out around 1186. 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 is comfortably visible without equipment on a decent night.
What could a Mebsuta dedication represent?
Mebsuta 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 Gemini in the sky.”
Where can you see Mebsuta?
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 65°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 25°N. It stands highest at midnight in January, so January and February evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 2.98 it is an easy naked-eye star from any reasonably dark spot.
Mebsuta belongs to Gemini.
What does Mebsuta mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Mebsuta, 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, Mebsuta stands at 9° Cancer at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 29 June 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 Mebsuta 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 Mebsuta →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Mebsuta dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Mebsuta's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Mebsuta keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Mebsuta
- What does Mebsuta mean in astrology?
- The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Mebsuta. Projected onto the zodiac, Mebsuta stands at 9° Cancer, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 29 June.
- Is Mebsuta the brightest star?
- Mebsuta shines at magnitude 2.98 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
- How far away is Mebsuta?
- Mebsuta is approximately 840 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 840 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Mebsuta?
- Mebsuta is part of Gemini.
- Can everyone see Mebsuta?
- 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 65°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 25°N. It stands highest at midnight in January, so January and February evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 2.98 it is an easy naked-eye star from any reasonably dark spot.
- Is dedicating Mebsuta an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Mebsuta 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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