Gaja
HR 1497 · HIP 21881 · τ Tau
👁️ Naked-eye
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Star
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.26 mag
- Parallax
- 8.19 mas → about 398.2 light-years away
- Spectral type
- B3V
- Right ascension
- 70.5612°
- Declination
- 22.9569°
- Designation
- HR 1497
- Bayer designation
- τ Tau
- HIP number
- 21881
- IAU name adopted
- 2026-02-22
- Name language
- Sanskrit
- Name origin (IAU)
- The term "gaja" (गज) in Sanskrit means "elephant". Yet, the constellation "Gaja(h)" is not known in India but only in Indonesia. There it is attested in the cultural calendar called Palelintangan where it is found in the intersection between Sunday and the second day of a five-day cycle.
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 398 years to reach Earth — the light you see tonight left around AD 1628 (official distance ÷ speed of light).
- At magnitude 4.3 it is bright enough for the naked eye (limit about 6) — look from somewhere dark.
- Declination 23° — 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.