Moth

Moth at a glance

Constellation

Puppis

Other name

HD 61005

Catalogue number

HIP 36948

Distance

≈ 115 light-years

Brightness

Magnitude 8.22 telescope

Star type

G3/G5V

Colour

golden

Best seen from

The Southern Hemisphere and lower northern latitudes

Right ascension

07h 35m 47s

Declination

−32° 12′ 14″

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 Moth?

Moth 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.

Moth drifts about 9.3 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 you can see from Moth left in 1911, which puts it roughly a lifetime ago. Nobody has invented anything since then that the light knows about; it has simply been travelling.

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 Moth?

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 58°N. It passes directly overhead at latitude 32°S. It stands highest at midnight in January, so January and February evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 8.22 it sits below naked-eye reach; binoculars or a small telescope will find it.

Moth belongs to Puppis.

What does Moth mean in astrology?

The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Moth, 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, Moth stands at 4° Leo at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 24 July 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 Moth

What does Moth mean in astrology?

The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Moth. Projected onto the zodiac, Moth stands at 4° Leo, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 24 July.

Is Moth the brightest star?

Moth shines at magnitude 8.22 · a binocular-and-telescope star, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.

How far away is Moth?

Moth is approximately 115 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 115 years ago.

Which constellation contains Moth?

Moth is part of Puppis.

Can everyone see Moth?

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 58°N. It passes directly overhead at latitude 32°S. It stands highest at midnight in January, so January and February evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 8.22 it sits below naked-eye reach; binoculars or a small telescope will find it.

Is dedicating Moth an official astronomical renaming?

No. Moth 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

• Naos in Puppis
• Ahadi in Puppis
• Tureis in Puppis
• Pipit in Puppis
• Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky