Pagru, painted as a yellow-white star

The AsterNym star registry

Pagru

Pagru: the yellow-white star of Aquila

yellow-white · Aquila · η Aql

Pagru is a yellow-white star, a near cousin of our own Sun's colour in the constellation Aquila, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 3.80 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.

Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Pagru 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

Pagru at a glance

Constellation
Aquila
Other name
η Aql
Catalogue number
HIP 97804
Distance
≈ 1,382 light-years
Brightness
Magnitude 3.80 naked-eye
Star type
F6Ibv SB
Colour
yellow-white
Best seen from
Almost everywhere on Earth
Right ascension
19h 52m 28s
Declination
+01° 00′ 20″

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 Pagru?

Pagru is a yellow-white supergiant. Its surface runs about 6,000 to 7,500°C, a shade hotter than the Sun. 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-white star still in the steady part of its life would burn for two to four 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.

Pagru 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

Pagru is about 1,382 light years away, so the light reaching you now set out around 644. 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 Pagru dedication represent?

Pagru 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 Aquila in the sky.”

Dedicate Pagru →

Where can you see Pagru?

It sits 1° north of the celestial equator, so it clears the horizon everywhere short of latitude 89°S, in practice, every inhabited latitude on Earth. It passes directly overhead at latitude 1°N. It stands highest at midnight in July, so July and August evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 3.80 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.

Pagru belongs to Aquila.

What does Pagru mean in astrology?

The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Pagru, 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, Pagru stands at 0° Aquarius at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 19 January 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 Pagru 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 Pagru →

Real star · your message · a page to share

Your Pagru dedication includes

  • Your chosen dedication name
  • Your personal message
  • Pagru's real astronomical coordinates
  • A shareable dedication page
  • Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
  • An optional printable certificate and gift presentation

Pagru keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.

Frequently asked questions about Pagru

What does Pagru mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Pagru. Projected onto the zodiac, Pagru stands at 0° Aquarius, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 19 January.
Is Pagru the brightest star?
Pagru shines at magnitude 3.80 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
How far away is Pagru?
Pagru is approximately 1,382 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 1,382 years ago.
Which constellation contains Pagru?
Pagru is part of Aquila.
Can everyone see Pagru?
It sits 1° north of the celestial equator, so it clears the horizon everywhere short of latitude 89°S, in practice, every inhabited latitude on Earth. It passes directly overhead at latitude 1°N. It stands highest at midnight in July, so July and August evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 3.80 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
Is dedicating Pagru an official astronomical renaming?
No. Pagru 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

The constellation Aquila, its stars sized by brightness and coloured by spectral type
Aquila, drawn from catalogued positions: brighter stars are larger, and the colours follow spectral type. North is up and east is left, the sky-chart convention, so it is mirrored against a map of the ground. The joining lines are one drawing convention among several; the IAU fixes the boundaries, not the figure.
AsterNym dedications are personal commemorative records: they are not recognized by the International Astronomical Union, do not change scientific catalogue names, and do not confer ownership of a star.