Star profile
Alphard
Alpha Hydrae · Hydra
What is Alphard
Alphard means «the solitary one» in Arabic: an orange giant 180 light-years from the Earth, reigning almost without visible company around it over the long, sprawling constellation of Hydra. Its apparent loneliness so struck medieval astronomers that the name has survived intact for a thousand years, with no other tradition managing to displace it. Its warm glow, strong enough to pierce the light pollution of any European city without losing presence, carries the particular stillness of things set apart from everything else and yet still managing to make themselves noticed.
Where it is and when to see it
Alphard lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is February: 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 Alphard
- Constellation
- Hydra
- Apparent magnitude
- 1.99
- Distance
- 180.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 141.897° · Dec -8.659°
- Catalogue
- HIP 46390 · HD 81797
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Hydra
Hydra has 121 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Gamma Hydrae2.99
- Zeta Hydrae3.11
- Nu Hydrae3.11
- Pi Hydrae3.25
- AshleshaEpsilon Hydrae3.38
- Xi Hydrae3.54
- Lambda Hydrae3.61
- Mu Hydrae3.83