Star profile
Alya
Theta 1 Serpens · Serpens
What is Alya
Alya is a white class-A star lying 154.7 light-years away in Serpens Cauda, the tail of the celestial reptile split in two by the body of Ophiuchus. Its name comes from the Arabic «al-alyat», the fat tail of a sheep, a startlingly culinary expression that reminds us how everyday the language of medieval astronomers could be. It forms a visual pair with Alya B in a discreet corner of the summer sky, nearly invisible to modern urban eyes.
Where it is and when to see it
Alya 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.
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.
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 Alya
- Constellation
- Serpens
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.62
- Distance
- 154.7 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 284.055° · Dec 4.204°
- Catalogue
- HIP 92946 · HD 175638
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Serpens
Serpens has 65 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- UnukalhaiAlpha Serpens2.63
- Eta Serpens3.23
- Mu Serpens3.54
- Lambda Serpens4.42
- Iota Serpens4.51
- Zeta Serpens4.62
- Rho Serpens4.74
- Pi Serpens4.82