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Star profile

Kaus Borealis

Lambda Sagittarii · Sagittarius

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

What is Kaus Borealis

Kaus Borealis traces the northern curve of Sagittarius's bow, the centaur archer who aims at the very heart of the Milky Way. The name is a hybrid: «Kaus» from the Arabic «qaws», «bow», and «Borealis» from the Latin for «of the north». An orange K-class giant about 78 light-years away, it is a mature star whose warm hue crowns the upper tip of the celestial weapon.

Where it is and when to see it

Kaus Borealis lies in the southern 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

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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 Kaus Borealis

Constellation
Sagittarius
Apparent magnitude
2.82
Distance
78.2 light years
Coordinates (J2000)
RA 276.993° · Dec -25.422°
Catalogue
HIP 90496 · HD 169916

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

Other stars in Sagittarius

Sagittarius has 117 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 117 stars in Sagittarius