# Algorab (Delta Corvi)

Algorab (Delta Corvi) is a star in the constellation Corvus, magnitude 2.9.

**The Crow’s own star — and a puzzle: an ageing star of 260 million years, or a newborn of three million?**

Algorab may be young or old, and astronomers cannot yet tell which. It shines about 69 times as brightly as the Sun — too bright for a settled star of its mass. Either it is a 260-million-year-old [star](https://astropilot.space/glossary/star) running out of hydrogen in its core, or a newborn just 3.2 million years old, still shrinking towards adulthood. The same light tells two very different life stories.

Its name is simple: Arabic al-ghurāb, ‘the crow’, the bird of Corvus itself. In medieval Europe it was one of the fifteen Behenian stars of astrological magic, each paired with a gemstone and a plant, and the US Navy later named a ship, USS Algorab, after it.

In 1823 James South and John Herschel noticed a faint companion beside it. In two centuries the two have not shifted against each other, and they drift through space together — but their apparent ages differ, so they may not be true partners. Another faint star moving with Algorab may be its real companion.

Algorab (Delta Corvi) is 87 light-years away: the light we see from it set off in 1939, 9 years after Pluto was discovered.

## Did you know?

- **Third Star of the Chariot.** In Chinese astronomy the four bright stars of Corvus form Zhěn, the Chariot, one of the lunar mansions. Algorab is its third star.
- **Dust, but not its own.** A 2006 search found no dusty disc around Algorab. A 2014 study did detect warm dust — but it was interstellar, not a disc of its own.

The north-east corner of the four-star sail of Corvus, a white 3rd-magnitude star. A small telescope shows a 9th-magnitude orange companion about 24 arcseconds away — a lovely colour contrast at low power.

## When and where to see it

It is best placed in the evening sky around April, when it crosses the meridian at about 10 pm local time (around midnight in March). It can be seen from everywhere south of 73°N and never sets south of 73°S.

At its highest it stands 23° up from 50°N, 38° up from 35°N, 73° up from the equator, 72° up from 35°S.

## Facts

- Type: Star
- Constellation: Corvus
- Designations: Delta Corvi, δ Crv, 7 Crv, HR 4757, HD 108767, HIP 60965
- Magnitude: 2.9
- Position: RA 12h 29.9m, Dec −16° 31′ (J2000)
- Spectral type: A0IV(n)kB9
- Colour: white (B−V -0.05)
- Distance: 87 light-years
- Discovered: Known since antiquity

Open AstroPilot to see when Algorab (Delta Corvi) is highest tonight from your location, how easy it is with your telescope or binoculars, and an eyepiece view. https://astropilot.space/object/algorab