- Stars with a name
- Alrakis
Alrakis
μ Draconis
Alrakis is a yellow-white star, in the constellation Draco. The light you see from it tonight left it around 1950.
Where to find it
From mid-northern latitudes, such as New York, Rome or Tokyo, it never sets: it circles the pole all night, all year.
Visible to the naked eye only under a dark sky, away from town. Apparent magnitude 5.63.
What it’s like
It gives off 2.6 times as much light as the Sun.
Its surface temperature is about 6,300 degrees Celsius.
It is 75.9 light years away: 718 trillion kilometres.
It is the star of people born around 1950: the light that left it then is reaching Earth now.