Star profile
17 Draco
Hot blue starWhat is 17 Draco
17 Draconis burns blue in the coils of the celestial dragon, a B-type star whose surface hovers around twenty thousand degrees. Its light set out 412 years ago and crossed the void in the era when Galileo first turned his small telescope toward Jupiter. Magnitude 5.07 — a sheet of kindled ice at the very edge of perception.
Where it is and when to see it
17 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 May, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never sets and culminates about 89° up.
- From New York it never sets and culminates about 78° up.
- From Sydney it culminates about 3° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 37° S.
It ranks no. 46 in brightness among the 122 stars of Draco in our catalogue. To find it, start from Eltanin, the brightest: it lies about 12° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 410 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 17 Draco
- Constellation
- Draco
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.07
- Distance
- 412.4 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 249.057° · Dec 52.924°
- Catalogue
- HIP 81292 · HD 150117
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Draco
Draco has 122 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- EltaninGamma Draco2.24
- AthebyneEta Draco2.73
- RastabanBeta Draco2.79
- 35 Draco5.02
- HIP 899815.02
- 46 Draco5.03
- 27 Draco5.07
- 59 Draco5.11