Star profile
Sheliak
Beta Lyrae · Lyra
Variable starWhat is Sheliak
Sheliak, beta Lyrae, is an eclipsing variable 962 light-years away: two stars so close that they transfer matter and obscure one another with clockwork regularity. Her name comes from the Arabic «al-shilyāq», 'the harp', one of the few musical references that survive in the stellar catalogue. Her light departed around the year 1064, almost when the Crab supernova was illuminating Chinese skies.
Where it is and when to see it
Sheliak lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is July: 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.
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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
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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 Sheliak
- Constellation
- Lyra
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.52
- Distance
- 962.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 282.520° · Dec 33.363°
- Catalogue
- HIP 92420 · HD 174638
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Other stars in Lyra
Lyra has 37 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- VegaAlpha Lyrae0.03
- SulafatGamma Lyrae3.25
- 13 Lyrae4.08
- Delta 2 Lyrae4.22
- Kappa Lyrae4.33
- Zeta 1 Lyrae4.34
- Theta Lyrae4.35
- AladfarEta Lyrae4.43