Thuban

Draco · α Dra · HR 5291

HIP68756
Visual magnitude3.67
Right ascension (J2000)211.097°
Declination (J2000)64.3759°
WDS J14044+6423
IAU adoption2016/06/30

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.

Alternative names

  • No alternative names yet.