Alrescha

Star

Apparent magnitude

3.82 mag

Parallax

21.66 mas → about 150.6 light-years away

Spectral type

A2

Right ascension

30.5117°

Declination

2.7638°

Designation

* alf Psc

Bayer designation

α Psc

HIP number

9487

IAU name adopted

2016-08-21

Name language

Arabic

Name origin (IAU)

From the pre-Islamic Arabian lunar mansion name al-risha', "the Cord," for β And. Wrongly transferred to α Psc in recent times. According to a Arabic source, the pre-Islamic Arabian al-risha' included, in a larger sense, two curving lines of mostly dim stars in Andromeda and Pisces, meant to attach to the pre-Islamic Arabian al-dalw "the Well Bucket" (marked by today's Square of Pegasus). It is also possible that this "cord" was a remnant of the cord joining the two fish of the older Babylonian zodiac. Indeed, these stars of the cord were alternatively known by the pre-Islamic Arabians as al-hut, "the Fish" (a single fish), corresponding to what in other cultures was Pisces among the zodiacal signs (and according to this tradition, the Fish's brightest star, β And, was batn al-hut, "the Fish's Belly").

Source:ESA Hipparcos Catalogue (ESA Gaia Archive) · checked 2026-11-03 ↗IAU Working Group on Star Names · checked 2026-11-02 ↗