The AsterNym star registry
Peacock
Peacock: the blue star of Pavo
blue · Pavo · α Pav
Peacock is a blue star in the constellation Pavo, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 1.94 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Peacock 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
Peacock at a glance
- Constellation
- Pavo
- Other name
- α Pav
- Catalogue number
- HIP 100751
- Distance
- ≈ 179 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 1.94 naked-eye
- Star type
- B2 IV
- Colour
- blue
- Best seen from
- The Southern Hemisphere and lower northern latitudes
- Right ascension
- 20h 25m 39s
- Declination
- −56° 44′ 06″
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 Peacock?
Peacock is a blue-white subgiant. Its surface runs somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000°C, which is what gives it a blue-white cast. 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.
It is spending its fuel at a rate the Sun never will. Most of the bright stars in familiar constellations are this kind, which is why the night sky looks younger and hotter than the average star actually is.
A star of this class gets tens of millions of years, against the Sun's ten thousand million.
It is a subgiant, caught in the short crossing between an ordinary life and a giant one. Its core has run out of hydrogen but its outer layers have not finished expanding, and astronomically this stage passes quickly.
The light you are looking at is old
The light arriving from Peacock tonight left in about 1847, some 179 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 is also one of the brighter stars in the sky, which is why it carries a proper name at all rather than a catalogue number.
What could a Peacock dedication represent?
Peacock 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 Pavo in the sky.”
Where can you see Peacock?
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 33°N. It passes directly overhead at latitude 57°S. It stands highest at midnight in July, so July and August evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 1.94 it is an easy naked-eye star from any reasonably dark spot.
Peacock belongs to Pavo, where it is the brightest star.
What does Peacock mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Peacock, 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, Peacock stands at 23° Capricorn at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 12 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 Peacock 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 Peacock →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Peacock dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Peacock's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Peacock keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Peacock
- What does Peacock mean in astrology?
- The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Peacock. Projected onto the zodiac, Peacock stands at 23° Capricorn, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 12 January.
- Is Peacock the brightest star?
- Peacock shines at magnitude 1.94 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
- How far away is Peacock?
- Peacock is approximately 179 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 179 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Peacock?
- Peacock is the brightest star in Pavo.
- Can everyone see Peacock?
- 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 33°N. It passes directly overhead at latitude 57°S. It stands highest at midnight in July, so July and August evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 1.94 it is an easy naked-eye star from any reasonably dark spot.
- Is dedicating Peacock an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Peacock 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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