Sheratan
HR 553 · HIP 8903 · β Ari
👁️ Naked-eye
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Star
- Apparent magnitude
- 2.65 mag
- Parallax
- 55.6 mas → about 58.7 light-years away
- Spectral type
- A5V...
- Right ascension
- 28.66°
- Declination
- 20.808°
- Designation
- HR 553
- Bayer designation
- β Ari
- HIP number
- 8903
- IAU name adopted
- 2016-07-20
- Name language
- Arabic
- Name origin (IAU)
- Applied in recent times from the Arabic lunar mansion name al-shara-tan, for β and γ Ari. The name means "two" of something, but the complete meaning is uncertain. Some Arabic authors suggested that it meant "the Two Signs", implying these stars as some kind of celestial indicator; others assumed it meant "the Two Horns", referring to the Arabic figure of al-hamals here.
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 59 years to reach Earth — the light you see tonight left around AD 1967 (official distance ÷ speed of light).
- At magnitude 2.7 it is bright enough for the naked eye (limit about 6) — look from somewhere dark.
- Declination 20.8° — 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.