My Star

Richard Erwin's Star

Whoever might be perusing this web page, I am aware that you may or may not be familiar with the International Star Registry, an organization that has been selling star names for many years. They currently have a web site that advertises star names for $35. On December 28th, 1983, a member of my family (I must confess that I do not remember which one) bought me a star, which now carries my name and is known as Richard Erwin's Star. According to the documentation I received, this name is recorded in a book registered in the copyright office of the Library of Congress and is also stored in a Swiss vault owned by the ISR. My star is located at right ascension 23 hours, 11 minutes, 49 seconds, declination 26 degrees, 50 minutes and 50 seconds. (equatorial 2000) I should point out that the right ascension and declination given on the document I received vary slightly from this location due to the years that have passed since it was chosen. The star also carries a previous name of 60 Pegasi and is located in the constellation Pegasus. My star is quite close to Scheat, which is the second brightest star in Pegasus and is one corner of the 'Great Square' of Pegasus and Andromeda. The star is of spectral type G8 III-IV, which makes it very similar to our sun in that regard. It lies at a distance of 228 light years and shines at a visual magnitude of 6.19 which makes it just barely visible to the naked eye in a very dark sky. I took a photo of the star with my Nikon D-90 on October 10, 2014 and post it below.