The AsterNym star registry
Zuoqi
Zuoqi: the deep red star of Sagitta
deep red · Sagitta · δ Sge
Zuoqi is a deep red star in the constellation Sagitta, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 3.81 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Zuoqi 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
Zuoqi at a glance
- Constellation
- Sagitta
- Other name
- δ Sge
- Catalogue number
- HIP 97365
- Distance
- ≈ 594 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 3.81 naked-eye
- Star type
- M2II + B6
- Colour
- deep red
- Best seen from
- Almost everywhere on Earth
- Right ascension
- 19h 47m 23s
- Declination
- +18° 32′ 04″
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 Zuoqi?
Zuoqi is a red bright giant. Its surface runs under 4,000°C, which is cool as stars go and why the colour is unmistakably red. 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 red star still in the steady part of its life would burn for longer than the universe has yet existed. 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.
Zuoqi 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
Zuoqi is about 594 light years away, so the light reaching you now set out around 1432. 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 Zuoqi dedication represent?
Zuoqi 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 Zuoqi?
It sits 19° north of the celestial equator, so it clears the horizon everywhere short of latitude 71°S, in practice, every inhabited latitude on Earth. It passes directly overhead at latitude 19°N. It stands highest at midnight in July, so July and August evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 3.81 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
Zuoqi belongs to Sagitta.
What does Zuoqi mean in astrology?
The classical fixed-star tradition: Ptolemy, the medieval Behenian lists, Robson’s 1923 compilation. Is silent on Zuoqi, 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, Zuoqi stands at 3° Aquarius at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 22 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 Zuoqi 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 Zuoqi →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Zuoqi dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Zuoqi's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Zuoqi keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Zuoqi
- What does Zuoqi mean in astrology?
- The classical fixed-star tradition has no documented meaning for Zuoqi. Projected onto the zodiac, Zuoqi stands at 3° Aquarius, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 22 January.
- Is Zuoqi the brightest star?
- Zuoqi shines at magnitude 3.81 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
- How far away is Zuoqi?
- Zuoqi is approximately 594 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 594 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Zuoqi?
- Zuoqi is part of Sagitta.
- Can everyone see Zuoqi?
- It sits 19° north of the celestial equator, so it clears the horizon everywhere short of latitude 71°S, in practice, every inhabited latitude on Earth. It passes directly overhead at latitude 19°N. It stands highest at midnight in July, so July and August evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 3.81 it is a naked-eye star only under a dark sky, binoculars make it certain.
- Is dedicating Zuoqi an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Zuoqi 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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