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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 7:06 
Transit: 12:13 
Sunset: 17:21
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All Constellations » Draco » 

τ Draconis (tau Draconis)

Above the horizon.  Circumpolar today
Alt: 48.02°   Az: 25.27°   Direction: North-North-East

τ Draconis is a variable giant star of spectral class K2 in the constellation of Draco.

τ Draconis visual magnitude is 4.45. Because of its moderate brightness, τ Draconis is easily visible to the naked eye from locations with dark skies, while it might be barely visible, or not visible at all, from light-polluted skies.

Image of τ Draconis (tau Draconis) star
DSS2 image of τ Draconis. The red arrow shows the motion of τ Draconis during the next 1000 years (-2.33 arcmin in Right Ascension and 1.78 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

19h 15m 03s
+73° 24’ 02”
17h 51m 47s
13h 06m 51s

J2000

19h 15m 33s
+73° 21’ 20”

Galactic Coordinates

104.73°
24.21°

Finder Chart

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Finder chart for τ Draconis (tau Draconis).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

4.45
Giant

1.14
K2III
4213K

The red dot in the diagram below shows where τ Draconis is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

HR Diagram
H-R diagram showing the position of τ Draconis. Attribution: Richard Powell / CC BY-SA

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

τ Draconis is distant 150.02 light years from the Sun and it is moving towards the Sun at the speed of 30 kilometers per second.

46.02
150.02
-30 km/s
-0.14 arcsec/y
0.107"/y

Alternative Designations

τ Draconis
(tau Draconis)
60 Draconis
SAO9366
SAO9366

Visibility from Your Location

τ Draconis (tau Draconis) is circumpolar and transits at 09:16 UTC (altitude: 68.1°)