Star profile
18 Draco
What is 18 Draco
18 Draconis burns 736 light-years away within the winding body of the Dragon, a constellation that coils around the northern celestial pole. Spectral type K, its tone is orange and its surface cooler than the Sun's. The light reaching us tonight left the star deep in the 13th century, when scholars still debated whether Earth sat at the centre of the cosmos.
Where it is and when to see it
18 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 March, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never sets and culminates about 77° up.
- From New York it never sets and culminates about 66° up.
- From Sydney it never rises above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 25° S.
It ranks no. 27 in brightness among the 122 stars of Draco in our catalogue. To find it, start from Eltanin, the brightest: it lies about 16° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 740 years ago.
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Astronomical data for 18 Draco
- Constellation
- Draco
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.84
- Distance
- 736.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 250.230° · Dec 64.589°
- Catalogue
- HIP 81660 · HD 151101
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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
- 45 Draco4.77
- Fafnir4.82
- Upsilon Draco4.82
- HIP 820204.84
- HIP 518084.86