Star profile

HIP 86561

3D likeness based on its real data · class K · ~4,200 K

What is HIP 86561

In Draco, the dragon that winds between the northern poles, shines an orange giant whose light has been on its way for more than three centuries. It set out when Bach was composing his Passions in Leipzig and Swiss clockmakers were perfecting the first precision mechanisms that would later lead to astronomical pendulum clocks. It is K-type, cooler than the Sun but swollen by age, a slow bonfire. Beneath the sinuous back of the celestial dragon, this orange ember burns nameless, watching the northern sky.

Where it is and when to see it

HIP 86561 lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is June: 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.

Find it on the sky map

It opens in your browser. Free, no account, nothing to install.

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

If you don't have an account yet, we'll ask for an email to confirm it's you: we send you a link and that's it, no password.

Write my signature

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 HIP 86561

Constellation: Draco
Apparent magnitude: 6.00
Distance: 303.2 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 265.341° · Dec 51.818°
Catalogue: HIP 86561 · HD 161193

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.

See all 122 stars in Draco