star · Draco · a plate in Stars
Thuban
α Draconis
8 July · 6:00 PM. True north is a date, not a character. The pole walks.
A North Star that moved. Axial precession. Egypt used a different lamp. The axis of the world is historical.
From the letters
“A north that moved.”
Astronomy · astrophysics
- Magnitude
- 3.65
- Distance
- about 303 light-years
- Spectrum
- A0 III
- Coordinates
- 14h 04m · +64° 22′
Single-lined spectroscopic binary. Period about 51.4 days.
α Draconis. Spectral type A0 III. Apparent magnitude about 3.65. Distance about 303 light-years.
A single-lined spectroscopic binary. Period about 51.4 days. Not a single clock.
Earth’s axis precesses among the stars on a cycle of about 25,772 years. The pole is a moving point, not a fixed lamp.
Historical story · observation
A north that was not ours
- around 2830 BCEThuban stood near the north celestial pole, within the Pyramid age, not ours. Egypt used a different lamp than Polaris.
Living
A lighthouse can change without failing. Orientation is a practice.
Soft off: Thuban as a sealed identity for any living person. The star is older than that reading.
Sources
- SIMBAD
- IAU
- precession models
- arXiv binary solutions
Choir
Rotanev · SualocinSiriusIzar · PulcherrimaThubanCapellaRigelMeropeTolimanM42Jupiter · IoSpicaFomalhautArcturusAlhenaCanopusWorking choir · not a planetarium