Star profile
Alhena
Gamma Geminorum · Gemini
What is Alhena
Alhena marks the foot of Pollux, one of the celestial twins, and its Arabic name refers precisely to that brand or scar on the hunter's body. A white A-type star some 109 light years away, its serene flash sweeps across Gemini each northern winter. The light seen tonight left the star not long before the American Revolution.
Where it is and when to see it
Alhena lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is December: 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.
It opens in your browser. Free, no account, nothing to install.
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
If you don't have an account yet, we'll ask for an email to confirm it's you: we send you a link and that's it, no password.
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 Alhena
- Constellation
- Gemini
- Apparent magnitude
- 1.93
- Distance
- 109.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 99.428° · Dec 16.399°
- Catalogue
- HIP 31681 · HD 47105
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Gemini
Gemini has 74 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- PolluxBeta Geminorum1.16
- CastorAlpha Geminorum1.58
- Castor BAlpha Geminorum2.85
- TejatMu Geminorum2.87
- MebsutaEpsilon Geminorum3.06
- PropusEta Geminorum3.31
- AlzirrXi Geminorum3.35
- WasatDelta Geminorum3.50