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Star profile

Kappa Lyrae

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

What is Kappa Lyrae

Kappa Lyrae is a solitary orange K2 III giant lying some 238 light-years away at the edge of the Lyre, near the border with Hercules. Its radius has swollen to twenty solar radii, and it pours out more than 150 times the Sun's light with the coppery glow typical of stars that have left the main sequence. A serene ember, suspended near the celestial harp of Vega.

Where it is and when to see it

Kappa Lyrae 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 Kappa Lyrae

Constellation
Lyra
Apparent magnitude
4.33
Distance
251.7 light years
Coordinates (J2000)
RA 274.965° · Dec 36.065°
Catalogue
HIP 89826 · HD 168775

A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.

Other stars in Lyra

Lyra has 37 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 37 stars in Lyra