The AsterNym star registry
Rasalnaqa
Rasalnaqa: the blue-white star of Andromeda
blue-white · Andromeda · ι And
Rasalnaqa is a blue-white star, the colour of the hottest, youngest suns in the constellation Andromeda, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 4.29 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Rasalnaqa 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
Rasalnaqa at a glance
- Constellation
- Andromeda
- Other name
- ι And
- Catalogue number
- HIP 116631
- Distance
- ≈ 499 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 4.29 naked-eye
- Star type
- B8V
- Colour
- blue-white
- Best seen from
- The Northern Hemisphere and lower southern latitudes
- Right ascension
- 23h 38m 08s
- Declination
- +43° 16′ 05″
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 Rasalnaqa?
Rasalnaqa is a blue-white main-sequence star. 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 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.
Rasalnaqa 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
Rasalnaqa is about 499 light years away, so the light reaching you now set out around 1527. 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 does the name Rasalnaqa mean?
In the catalogue of stars in the Calendarium of Al Achsasi al Mouakket, this star was designated Keff al-Salsalat (كف المسلسلة - kaf al-musalsala), which was translated into Latin as Manus Catenata, meaning hand of the chained woman.
Name origin from English Wikipedia. AsterNym does not invent an etymology where none is recorded, and most stars in this catalogue have none: they carry modern names, or a catalogue designation and nothing older.
What could a Rasalnaqa dedication represent?
Rasalnaqa 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 Andromeda in the sky.”
Where can you see Rasalnaqa?
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 47°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 43°N. It stands highest at midnight in September, so September and October evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 4.29 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
Rasalnaqa belongs to Andromeda.
What does Rasalnaqa mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Rasalnaqa, 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, Rasalnaqa stands at 16° Aries at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 5 April 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 Rasalnaqa 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 Rasalnaqa →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Rasalnaqa dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Rasalnaqa's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Rasalnaqa keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Rasalnaqa
- What does Rasalnaqa mean in astrology?
- The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Rasalnaqa. Projected onto the zodiac, Rasalnaqa stands at 16° Aries, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 5 April.
- Is Rasalnaqa the brightest star?
- Rasalnaqa shines at magnitude 4.29 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
- How far away is Rasalnaqa?
- Rasalnaqa is approximately 499 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 499 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Rasalnaqa?
- Rasalnaqa is part of Andromeda.
- Can everyone see Rasalnaqa?
- 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 47°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 43°N. It stands highest at midnight in September, so September and October evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 4.29 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
- Is dedicating Rasalnaqa an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Rasalnaqa 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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