Star profile
Tiaki
Beta Grus · Grus
Red giantWhat is Tiaki
Tiaki, a red giant 177 light-years from the Earth, shines in the southern constellation of Grus, the Crane, far beyond the reach of skies seen from the north of Europe. Its name comes from Māori, naming the guardian bird that watched over travellers who once crossed the Pacific by reading the stars at night, with no other map than the memory of their elders. Its reddened, time-cooled light left the star when Beethoven was beginning to write the first symphonies that would change the European musical language forever.
Where it is and when to see it
Tiaki lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is August: 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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The signature wall
Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.
A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works
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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 Tiaki
- Constellation
- Grus
- Apparent magnitude
- 2.07
- Distance
- 177.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 340.667° · Dec -46.885°
- Catalogue
- HIP 112122 · HD 214952
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Grus
Grus has 39 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AlnairAlpha Grus1.73
- AldhanabGamma Grus3.00
- Epsilon Grus3.49
- Iota Grus3.88
- Delta 1 Grus3.97
- Zeta Grus4.11
- Delta 2 Grus4.12
- Theta Grus4.28