# Kraz (Beta Corvi)

Kraz (Beta Corvi) is a star in the constellation Corvus, magnitude 2.6.

**A yellow giant in the Crow whose name nobody can explain.**

Nobody knows what Kraz means. The name first appears in 1951, in the star atlas Atlas Coeli by the Czech astronomer Antonín Bečvář, and its origin and meaning remain a mystery. The IAU made it official anyway in 2018.

The star itself is a [yellow](https://astropilot.space/glossary/star-colour) bright giant of about 3.3 times the Sun’s mass. Though only some 300 million years old — around a fifteenth of the Sun’s age — it has already used up the hydrogen in its core and swollen to nearly 16 times the Sun’s width, shining 175 times as brightly from a surface near 5,300 K.

It is also rich in heavy elements, with about 1.4 times the Sun’s share of what astronomers call metals.

Kraz (Beta Corvi) is 150 light-years away: the light we see from it set off around 1875, around the time Edison lit his first practical light bulb — the start of light pollution.

## Did you know?

- **Fourth star of the Chariot.** Chinese astronomers counted Kraz as the fourth star of Zhěn, the Chariot, made from the four bright stars of Corvus.
- **A suspected variable.** Kraz is listed as a suspected variable star, wandering between magnitudes 2.60 and 2.66 — far too small a change to notice by eye.

A yellow star of magnitude 2.6 at the south-eastern corner of Corvus, the Crow. Compare its warm yellow with blue-white Gienah at the opposite corner of the Crow’s four-sided figure — the difference shows well in binoculars.

## When and where to see it

It is best placed in the evening sky around May, when it crosses the meridian at about 10 pm local time (around midnight in March). It can be seen from everywhere south of 67°N and never sets south of 67°S.

At its highest it stands 17° up from 50°N, 32° up from 35°N, 67° up from the equator, 78° up from 35°S.

## Facts

- Type: Star
- Constellation: Corvus
- Designations: Beta Corvi, β Crv, 9 Crv, HR 4786, HD 109379, HIP 61359
- Magnitude: 2.6
- Position: RA 12h 34.4m, Dec −23° 24′ (J2000)
- Spectral type: G5IIBa0.3
- Colour: orange (B−V 0.88)
- Distance: 150 light-years
- Discovered: Known since antiquity

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