Star profile
Arkab Prior
Beta 1 Sagittarii · Sagittarius
Hot blue starWhat is Arkab Prior
Arkab Prior is a blue class-B star lying 313 light-years away in Sagittarius, the leading half of an optical pair that shares its name with companion Arkab Posterior. Its Arabic name, «al-'urqub», means «the hamstring», describing the rear leg of the celestial centaur. Visually close yet physically unrelated by gravity, the two Arkabs show how easily human perspective is fooled when trying to read depth in a sky without distance.
Where it is and when to see it
Arkab Prior lies in the southern 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 never rises above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 5° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 79° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 46° N.
It ranks no. 15 in brightness among the 117 stars of Sagittarius in our catalogue. To find it, start from Kaus Australis, the brightest: it lies about 15° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 310 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Arkab Prior
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.96
- Distance
- 313.7 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 290.660° · Dec -44.459°
- Catalogue
- HIP 95241 · HD 181454
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.
- Kaus AustralisEpsilon Sagittarii1.79
- NunkiSigma Sagittarii2.05
- AscellaZeta Sagittarii2.60
- Omicron Sagittarii3.76
- PolisMu Sagittarii3.84
- Rho 1 Sagittarii3.92
- RukbatAlpha Sagittarii3.96
- Iota Sagittarii4.12