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Altair designated α Aquilae, is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila and the twelfth-brightest star in the night sky. It is currently in the G-cloud—a nearby interstellar cloud, an accumulation of gas and dust. Altair is an A-type main-sequence star with an apparent visual magnitude of 0.77 and is one of the vertices of the Summer Triangle asterism. It is 16.7 light-years from the Sun and is one of the most visible stars to the naked eye.
Lepus is a constellation lying just south of the celestial equator. Its name is Latin for hare. It is located below—immediately south—of Orion, and is sometimes represented as a hare being chased by Orion or by Orion's hunting dogs.
Beta Andromedae, Latinized from β Andromedae, and officially named Mirach, is a prominent star in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It is northeast of the Great Square of Pegasus and is potentially visible to all observers north of latitude 54° S. It is commonly used by stargazers to find the Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxy NGC 404, also known as Mirach's Ghost, is seven arcminutes away from Mirach.
Gamma Andromedae, Latinized from γ Andromedae, is the third-brightest point of light in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It is a multiple star system approximately 350 light-years from Earth. The system is drifting closer to the Sun with a radial velocity in the range of −12 to −14 km/s.
Beta Cassiopeiae, officially named Caph, is a Delta Scuti variable star in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It is a giant star belonging to the spectral class F2. The white star of second magnitude has an absolute magnitude of +1.3 mag.
Alpha Phoenicis, formally named Ankaa is the brightest star in the constellation of Phoenix.
Alpha Ceti, officially named Menkar, is the second-brightest star in the constellation of Cetus. It is a cool luminous red giant about 250 light years away.
Alpha Leporis, formally named Arneb, is the brightest star in the constellation of Lepus.
Zeta Ophiuchi is a single star located in the constellation of Ophiuchus. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 2.57, making it the third-brightest star in the constellation. Parallax measurements give an estimated distance of roughly 366 light-years from the Earth. It is surrounded by the Sh2-27 "Cobold" nebula, the star's bow shock as it ploughs through dense dust clouds near the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex.
Beta Serpentis, Latinized from β Serpentis, is a binary star system in the constellation Serpens, in its head. It is visible to the naked eye with a combined apparent visual magnitude of +3.65. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 21.03 mas as seen from Earth, it is located around 155 light years from the Sun. The system is a member of the Ursa Major Moving Group.
Epsilon Serpentis, Latinized from ε Serpentis, is a single, white-hued star in the constellation Serpens, in its head. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +3.69. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 46.30 mas as seen from Earth, it is located 70 light years from the Sun. It is moving closer to the Sun with a radial velocity of −9 km/s.
Delta Serpentis, Latinized from δ Serpentis, is a binary star system system in the constellation Serpens, in its head. The light from the two stars in the system give a combined apparent magnitude of +3.80, which is bright enough to be visible to the naked eye. Based on parallax measurements, it is located at a distance of approximately 230 light years from the Sun. The system is moving closer with a radial velocity of ~42 km/s, and may come to within 115 light-years in 1.2 million years.
Gamma Serpentis is a star in the equatorial constellation Serpens, in the part of the constellation that represents the serpent's head. It has an apparent visual magnitude +3.85, which means it is visible to the naked eye. Based upon parallax measurements by the Hipparcos spacecraft, this star is approximately 36.7 light years from Earth.
Beta Leporis, formally named Nihal, is the second brightest star in the constellation of Lepus.
Gamma Herculis, Latinized from γ Herculis, is a magnitude 3.74 binary star system in the northern constellation of Hercules.
Delta Ceti, Latinized from δ Ceti, is a single, blue-white hued star in the equatorial constellation of Cetus. The star's apparent visual magnitude of +4.06 means it is near to the cusp of the faintest third of the stars that are visible the ideally-placed naked eye. It is 0.3238° north of the celestial equator compared to the celestial north pole's 90°. The star is positioned about 0.74° WNW of the spiral galaxy M77, but which at apparent magnitude 9.6 needs magnification to be made out and has an apparent size of only 0.1° by 0.12°.
Some astronomical objects have proper names, often in addition to catalogue numbers or other systematic designations. This trivially includes the naked-eye planets as well as the Sun and Moon. A small number of stars have proper names in pre-modern astronomical tradition, but most naked-eye stars are identified by their Bayer or Flamsteed designations.
References
- Allen, Richard Hinckley (1963). Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning (rep. ed.). New York, NY: Dover Publications Inc. ISBN 0-486-21079-0.
- Kunitzsch, Paul; Smart, Tim (2006). A Dictionary of Modern star Names: A Short Guide to 254 Star Names and Their Derivations (2nd rev. ed.). Cambridge, MA: Sky Pub. ISBN 978-1-931559-44-7.