Thuban

Draco · Dra · α Dra · HR 5291 · HIP 68756 · magnitude 3.67

The formation of this name begins with the sci-A name for γ Dra: ra's al-tinnin, "the Serpent's Head." In medieval times this was transliterated into Latin as raztaben, rahtaben, razcaben, and several other corruptions …

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Astronomy

Official IAU information

Designation

HR 5291

HIP

68756

Bayer ID

α Dra

Visual magnitude

3.67

Right ascension (J2000)

211.097°

Declination (J2000)

64.3759°

IAU adoption

2016/06/30

Name origin

The formation of this name begins with the sci-A name for γ Dra: ra's al-tinnin, "the Serpent's Head." In medieval times this was transliterated into Latin as raztaben, rahtaben, razcaben, and several other corruptions (eventually leading to the name for β Dra). By Renaissance times the form Rastaben had appeared, and this name was erroneously attributed, in its last part, to the Arabic word thu'ban, "serpent", rather than to al-tinnin (subsequently thu<ban was wrongly regarded as a sci-A name for the constellation Draco). Finally in recent times, the erroneous word, written as "Thuban," was applied as a star name to α Dra.

Other stars in Draco