Star profile
Theta Lyrae
Highly luminous starWhat is Theta Lyrae
θ Lyrae is an orange giant at 832 light-years, well removed from the small Lyre that Vega anchors. Its apparent brightness seems modest, but the modesty is deceptive: to be visible from such depth, it must outshine the Sun by hundreds of times. It is one of those stars that look small in a catalogue yet prove colossal once the gulf separating them from us is measured.
Where it is and when to see it
Theta 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 July, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it culminates about 77° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 87° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 18° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 52° S.
It ranks no. 8 in brightness among the 37 stars of Lyra in our catalogue. To find it, start from Vega, the brightest: it lies about 8° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 830 years ago.
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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 Theta Lyrae
- Constellation
- Lyra
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.35
- Distance
- 832.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 289.092° · Dec 38.134°
- Catalogue
- HIP 94713 · HD 180809
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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
- SheliakBeta Lyrae3.52
- Delta 2 Lyrae4.22
- Kappa Lyrae4.33
- Zeta 1 Lyrae4.34
- AladfarEta Lyrae4.43
- Epsilon 2 Lyrae4.59