The AsterNym star registry
Rigil Kentaurus
Rigil Kentaurus: the yellow star of Centaurus
yellow · Centaurus · α Cen · third-brightest star in the night sky
Rigil Kentaurus is a yellow star in the constellation Centaurus, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude -0.27 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Rigil Kentaurus 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
Rigil Kentaurus at a glance
- Constellation
- Centaurus
- Other name
- α Cen
- Catalogue number
- HIP 71683
- Distance
- ≈ 4.4 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude -0.27 naked-eye
- Rank
- third-brightest star in the night sky
- Star type
- G2 V
- Colour
- yellow
- Best seen from
- The far southern sky
- Right ascension
- 14h 39m 36s
- Declination
- −60° 49′ 56″
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 Rigil Kentaurus?
Rigil Kentaurus 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.
Rigil Kentaurus is one of the fastest-moving stars in the sky. It shifts about 371 arcseconds every century, which sounds tiny and is not: over a human lifetime it visibly changes position against the stars behind it. The constellations are not fixed, they are just slow, and this one is in a hurry.
The light you are looking at is old
Light travels fast but not instantly, so what reaches your eye from Rigil Kentaurus tonight set out in 2022. That is inside a single lifetime. Someone alive now was already alive when this particular light left.
Distance is also the honest limit of what a star can be to you. It is a real object, unimaginably large, and it does not know you exist. What it can be is a fixed point you agreed to attach a meaning to, which is the oldest use people have ever had for the sky.
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 does the name Rigil Kentaurus mean?
The common name Rigil Kentaurus is a Latinisation of the Arabic translation رجل القنطورس Rijl al-Qinṭūrus, meaning "the Foot of the Centaur".
Although its origin is not known, it may have been coined from the Greek letter beta and Latin ungula 'hoof', originally for Beta Centauri (the other hoof).
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 Rigil Kentaurus dedication represent?
Rigil Kentaurus 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 Centaurus in the sky.”
Where can you see Rigil Kentaurus?
It is a deep-southern star: easy from Australia, New Zealand, southern Africa and South America, but it never rises for observers north of about latitude 29°N. It passes directly overhead at latitude 61°S. It stands highest at midnight in May, so May and June evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude -0.27 it is bright enough to hold its own over city lights.
Rigil Kentaurus belongs to Centaurus, where it is the brightest star.
What does Rigil Kentaurus mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Rigil Kentaurus, 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, Rigil Kentaurus stands at 29° Scorpio at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 18 November 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 Rigil Kentaurus 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 Rigil Kentaurus →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Rigil Kentaurus dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Rigil Kentaurus's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Rigil Kentaurus keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Rigil Kentaurus
- What does Rigil Kentaurus mean in astrology?
- The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Rigil Kentaurus. Projected onto the zodiac, Rigil Kentaurus stands at 29° Scorpio, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 18 November.
- Is Rigil Kentaurus the brightest star?
- Rigil Kentaurus is the third-brightest star in the night sky as seen from Earth. Sirius is the brightest.
- How far away is Rigil Kentaurus?
- Rigil Kentaurus is approximately 4.4 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 4 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Rigil Kentaurus?
- Rigil Kentaurus is the brightest star in Centaurus.
- Can everyone see Rigil Kentaurus?
- It is a deep-southern star: easy from Australia, New Zealand, southern Africa and South America, but it never rises for observers north of about latitude 29°N. It passes directly overhead at latitude 61°S. It stands highest at midnight in May, so May and June evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude -0.27 it is bright enough to hold its own over city lights.
- Is dedicating Rigil Kentaurus an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Rigil Kentaurus 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
