The AsterNym star registry
Sham
Sham: the golden star of Sagitta
golden · Sagitta · α Sge
Sham is a golden star, warmer-toned than our Sun in the constellation Sagitta, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 4.39 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Sham 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
Sham at a glance
- Constellation
- Sagitta
- Other name
- α Sge
- Catalogue number
- HIP 96757
- Distance
- ≈ 425 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 4.39 naked-eye
- Star type
- G0II
- Colour
- golden
- Best seen from
- Almost everywhere on Earth
- Right ascension
- 19h 40m 06s
- Declination
- +18° 00′ 50″
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 Sham?
Sham is a yellow bright giant. 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.
Its colour is not the whole story. A yellow star still in the steady part of its life would burn for about ten 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 sits between a giant and a supergiant: already expanded well beyond its original size, already past the steady middle of its life, and bright enough to be picked out from a very long way off.
Sham 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
Sham is about 425 light years away, so the light reaching you now set out around 1601. 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 Sham dedication represent?
Sham 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 Sagitta in the sky.”
Where can you see Sham?
It sits 18° north of the celestial equator, so it clears the horizon everywhere short of latitude 72°S, in practice, every inhabited latitude on Earth. It passes directly overhead at latitude 18°N. It stands highest at midnight in July, so July and August evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 4.39 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
Sham belongs to Sagitta.
What does Sham mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Sham, 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, Sham stands at 1° 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 Sham 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 Sham →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Sham dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Sham's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Sham keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Sham
- What does Sham mean in astrology?
- The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Sham. Projected onto the zodiac, Sham stands at 1° Aquarius, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 19 January.
- Is Sham the brightest star?
- Sham shines at magnitude 4.39 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
- How far away is Sham?
- Sham is approximately 425 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 425 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Sham?
- Sham is part of Sagitta.
- Can everyone see Sham?
- It sits 18° north of the celestial equator, so it clears the horizon everywhere short of latitude 72°S, in practice, every inhabited latitude on Earth. It passes directly overhead at latitude 18°N. It stands highest at midnight in July, so July and August evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 4.39 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
- Is dedicating Sham an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Sham 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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