Star profile
Alfirk
Beta Cepheus · Cepheus
Variable starWhat is Alfirk
Alfirk, beta Cephei, is the prototype of an entire class of variable stars —the 'Beta Cephei' variables— that pulse on hourly scales through contractions of their own atmospheres. She is blue, hot and immense, 685 light-years away: her light set out at the close of the Middle Ages, when Constantinople was still Byzantine. The name comes from the Arabic «al-firq», 'the flock'.
Where it is and when to see it
Alfirk lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is October: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.
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A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.
Astronomical data for Alfirk
- Constellation
- Cepheus
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.23
- Distance
- 685.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 322.165° · Dec 70.561°
- Catalogue
- HIP 106032 · HD 205021
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Other stars in Cepheus
Cepheus has 95 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AlderaminAlpha Cepheus2.45
- ErraiGamma Cepheus3.21
- Zeta Cepheus3.39
- Eta Cepheus3.41
- Iota Cepheus3.50
- Delta Cepheus4.07
- Epsilon Cepheus4.18
- Theta Cepheus4.21