Skip to main content
Stelvia
Back to the selector

Star profile

48 Draco

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

What is 48 Draco

48 Draconis coils within the northern dragon, about 276 light-years away. K-type, orange and larger than the Sun, it glows with the calm warmth of giants that have left their spectral youth behind. Its light has spent centuries crossing the Milky Way's dust before reaching us as a soft gleam in the polar sky.

Where it is and when to see it

48 Draco lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is August, when it culminates around midnight.

  • From London it never sets and culminates about 84° up.
  • From New York it never sets and culminates about 73° up.
  • From Sydney it never rises above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere north of 32° S.

It ranks no. 84 in brightness among the 122 stars of Draco in our catalogue. To find it, start from Eltanin, the brightest: it lies about 11° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 280 years ago.

Find it on the sky map

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

Leave your signature on 48 Draco

Your name and a message go up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.

Without a lock, someone else can replace your signature. How the lock works

We'll ask for an email to confirm it's you, 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 48 Draco

Constellation
Draco
Apparent magnitude
5.67
Distance
276.2 light years
Coordinates (J2000)
RA 284.188° · Dec 57.815°
Catalogue
HIP 92997 · HD 176408

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