Star profile
Acrab
Beta 1 Scorpii · Scorpius
Hot blue starWhat is Acrab
Acrab marks one of the Scorpion's claws, burning as a hot blue star some 404 light-years away. Its name comes from the Arabic «al-ʿaqrab», simply «the scorpion», and modern astronomers found that what looks like a single point of light is in fact a complex system of several blue suns wheeling around one another. Its light set out when Galileo had only just begun pointing his telescope at the sky.
Where it is and when to see it
Acrab lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is May, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it culminates about 19° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 29° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 76° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 70° N.
It ranks no. 7 in brightness among the 104 stars of Scorpius in our catalogue. To find it, start from Antares, the brightest: it lies about 9° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 400 years ago.
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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 Acrab
- Constellation
- Scorpius
- Apparent magnitude
- 2.56
- Distance
- 404.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 241.359° · Dec -19.805°
- Catalogue
- HIP 78820 · HD 144217
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Scorpius
Scorpius has 104 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AntaresAlpha Scorpii1.06
- ShaulaLambda Scorpii1.62
- SargasTheta Scorpii1.86
- DschubbaDelta Scorpii2.29
- LarawagEpsilon Scorpii2.29
- Kappa Scorpii2.39
- LesathUpsilon Scorpii2.70
- PaikauhaleTau Scorpii2.82