Star profile
Albireo
Beta 1 Cygni · Cygnus
What is Albireo
Albireo marks the head of the Swan and, viewed through even a modest telescope, splits into one of amateur astronomy's most beloved sights: a golden companion paired with a blue one, a perfect chromatic couple. The principal component, an orange K-class giant, shines from about 434 light-years away. Its name, twisted by medieval copyists, holds no coherent meaning in Arabic: a ghost word born of error that tradition came to honour anyway.
Where it is and when to see it
Albireo 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
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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 Albireo
- Constellation
- Cygnus
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.05
- Distance
- 434.4 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 292.680° · Dec 27.960°
- Catalogue
- HIP 95947 · HD 183912
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Cygnus
Cygnus has 137 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- DenebAlpha Cygni1.25
- SadrGamma Cygni2.23
- AljanahEpsilon Cygni2.48
- FawarisDelta Cygni2.86
- Zeta Cygni3.21
- Xi Cygni3.72
- Tau Cygni3.74
- Iota 2 Cygni3.76