Star profile
Iota Aquilae
Hot blue starWhat is Iota Aquilae
In medieval Arabic its old name, Al Thalimain, meant «the two ostriches»: it forms with a neighbouring star a pair at the foot of the celestial Eagle. This is the blue subgiant of the duo — five times the Sun's mass, 850 times its luminosity, with a surface burning at 14,500 degrees. The light reaching us today left around the year 1635, while Galileo was dictating his last observations under house arrest in Arcetri, and has crossed 391 light-years in silence to tint one corner of Aquila blue.
Where it is and when to see it
Iota Aquilae 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 culminates about 37° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 48° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 57° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 89° N.
It ranks no. 12 in brightness among the 72 stars of Aquila in our catalogue. To find it, start from Altair, the brightest: it lies about 11° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 390 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Iota Aquilae
- Constellation
- Aquila
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.36
- Distance
- 391.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 294.180° · Dec -1.287°
- Catalogue
- HIP 96468 · HD 184930
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Other stars in Aquila
Aquila has 72 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AltairAlpha Aquilae0.76
- TarazedGamma Aquilae2.72
- OkabZeta Aquilae2.99
- Epsilon Aquilae4.02
- 12 Aquilae4.02
- 71 Aquilae4.31
- Mu Aquilae4.45
- Nu Aquilae4.64