Alphard
HR 3748 · HIP 46390 · α Hya
👁️ Naked-eye
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Star
- Apparent magnitude
- 1.97 mag
- Parallax
- 18.09 mas → about 180.3 light-years away
- Spectral type
- K3III
- Right ascension
- 141.8968°
- Declination
- -8.6586°
- Designation
- HR 3748
- Bayer designation
- α Hya
- HIP number
- 46390
- IAU name adopted
- 2016-07-20
- Name language
- Arabic
- Name origin (IAU)
- Applied in medieval times from its pre-Islamic Arabian name al-fard, "the Solitary One," descriptive of this star's standing out among the surrounding dim stars. (See the same word in the plural, with ζ CMa.)
Source:IAU Working Group on Star Names · checked 2026-11-02 ↗ESA Hipparcos Catalogue (ESA Gaia Archive) · checked 2026-11-03 ↗
Related
Constellation
In everyday life
- Light from this object takes about 180 years to reach Earth — the light you see tonight left around AD 1846 (official distance ÷ speed of light).
- At magnitude 2 it is bright enough for the naked eye (limit about 6) — look from somewhere dark.
- Declination -8.7° — it rises above the horizon in Seoul (37.6° N), so it is visible from Korea in the right season.
Worked out from this object's official values.