Star profile

Kappa Draco

Variable star

3D likeness based on its real data · class B · ~15,000 K

What is Kappa Draco

Kappa Draconis is a blue type-B giant whose brightness shifts slightly —the subtle variability characteristic of massive stars in full evolution. Some four thousand years ago it served as Earth's pole star, before the precession of the equinoxes passed that role to Thuban and, much later, to today's Polaris. Its light crosses nearly five centuries to reach us.

Where it is and when to see it

Kappa Draco lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is February, when it culminates around midnight.

From London it never sets and culminates about 72° up.
From New York it never sets and culminates about 61° up.
From Sydney it never rises above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere north of 20° S.

It ranks no. 12 in brightness among the 122 stars of Draco in our catalogue. To find it, start from Eltanin, the brightest: it lies about 40° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 490 years ago.

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Astronomical data for Kappa Draco

Constellation: Draco
Apparent magnitude: 3.85
Distance: 490.5 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 188.371° · Dec 69.788°
Catalogue: HIP 61281 · HD 109387

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Other stars in Draco

Draco has 122 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 122 stars in Draco