Udkadua
HR 8961 · HIP 116584 · λ And
👁️ Naked-eye
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Star
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.82 mag
- Parallax
- 37.87 mas → about 86.1 light-years away
- Spectral type
- G8III-IV
- Right ascension
- 354.391°
- Declination
- 46.4582°
- Designation
- HR 8961
- Bayer designation
- λ And
- HIP number
- 116584
- IAU name adopted
- 2025-05-08
- Name language
- Sumerian
- Name origin (IAU)
- The Sumerian term UD.KA.DU8.A is a compound, literally meaning "the storm demon with the gaping mouth". This Babylonian constellation is at least 3000 years old; the star named after it is its heel. It was highly important, as it was used for time-measurement for at least a millennium (if not longer).
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 86 years to reach Earth — the light you see tonight left around AD 1940 (official distance ÷ speed of light).
- At magnitude 3.8 it is bright enough for the naked eye (limit about 6) — look from somewhere dark.
- Declination 46.5° — 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.