Alkes
HR 4287 · HIP 53740 · α Crt
👁️ Naked-eye
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Star
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.07 mag
- Parallax
- 20.49 mas → about 159.2 light-years away
- Spectral type
- K1III
- Right ascension
- 164.9436°
- Declination
- -18.2988°
- Designation
- HR 4287
- Bayer designation
- α Crt
- HIP number
- 53740
- IAU name adopted
- 2016-09-12
- Name language
- Arabic
- Name origin (IAU)
- Applied with various spellings since medieval times, from the Arabic constellation name al-ka's, "the (Wine) Cup," for Crater.
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 159 years to reach Earth — the light you see tonight left around AD 1867 (official distance ÷ speed of light).
- At magnitude 4.1 it is bright enough for the naked eye (limit about 6) — look from somewhere dark.
- Declination -18.3° — 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.