Alrescha is the white star at the knot of Pisces, where the cords tied to the tails of the two fishes meet; its Arabic name means the cord.
At a glance
| type | white star (class A) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 151 light-years (46.2 pc) |
| its light left it | 151 years ago |
| luminosity | 63.2 × the Sun |
| radius | 3.28 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 8,990 K |
| constellation | Pisces (Fishes) |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Alrescha
Alrescha is a class A star, white and hotter than the Sun. A telescope shows it as a close double, two stars in a slow orbit around each other, and each of them is thought to be a close binary in turn.
The name comes from the Arabic for the cord. In the Greek figure the two fishes of Pisces are tied by long cords that join at a single knot, and Alrescha marks that knot, at the south-eastern corner of the constellation where the two lines of faint stars meet.
What you see in the piece
From Earth the cords of Pisces are a long V of faint stars. In the piece Alrescha is a white point at its own distance, and the knot comes undone the moment you move.
Questions
What does Alrescha mean?
Alrescha comes from the Arabic for the cord: it marks the knot joining the cords of the two fishes of Pisces.