Tarazed (Gamma Aquilae)
Tarazed (Gamma Aquilae) is a star in the constellation Aquila, magnitude 2.7.
Altair’s orange companion — in Chinese legend, a child of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
Many cultures have told stories about Altair and the two stars that flank it. In the Chinese tale of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, Tarazed and Alshain are the children of the Cowherd, Altair, and the Weaver Girl, Vega. The Koori people of Victoria saw them as the black swan wives of Bunjil, the wedge-tailed eagle.
Tarazed is the brighter of the two flanking stars. It is an orange bright giant about 92 times the Sun’s width — in the Sun’s place it would reach past Mercury’s orbit — and shines over 2,100 times as brightly. Though only about 270 million years old, it has already used up its core hydrogen and now burns helium into carbon.
Its name comes from the Persian for “the scale beam” or “the balance”, once used for all three stars; Alshain comes from the same phrase.
Tarazed (Gamma Aquilae) is 390 light-years away: the light we see from it set off around 1635, 25 years after Galileo first turned a telescope to the sky.
Did you know?
- A nebula found in 2023. In 2023 Stefan Ziegenbalg reported a faint emission nebula centred just 7 arcminutes from Tarazed. The star is unlikely to be what makes it glow.
- The eagle’s shoulder. The Calendarium of Al Achsasi al Mouakket called it Menkib al Nesr, translated into Latin as Humerus Vulturis — “the eagle’s shoulder”.
- The River Drum. In Chinese astronomy Tarazed, Altair and Alshain form Hé Gǔ, the River Drum. Tarazed is its third star.
An orange star of magnitude 2.7 about 2 degrees north-west of brilliant Altair; with Alshain on Altair’s other side it makes a short, distinctive line of three. Compare Tarazed’s orange with Altair’s white.
When and where to see it
It is best placed in the evening sky around August, when it crosses the meridian at about 10 pm local time (around midnight in July). It can be seen from everywhere north of 79°S and never sets north of 79°N.
At its highest it stands 51° up from 50°N, 66° up from 35°N, 79° up from the equator, 44° up from 35°S.
Facts
- Type
- Star
- Constellation
- Aquila
- Designations
- Gamma Aquilae, γ Aql, 50 Aql, HR 7525, HD 186791, HIP 97278
- Magnitude
- 2.7
- Position
- RA 19h 46.3m, Dec +10° 37′ (J2000)
- Spectral type
- K3II
- Colour
- orange-red (B−V 1.51)
- Distance
- 390 light-years
- Discovered
- Known since antiquity
Open AstroPilot to see when Tarazed (Gamma Aquilae) is highest tonight from your location, how easy it is with your telescope or binoculars, and an eyepiece view.