Sham is the alpha star of Sagitta, the arrow, a yellow giant whose Arabic name simply means arrow, flying between Altair and Albireo.
At a glance
| type | yellow giant (class G) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 425 light-years (130 pc) |
| its light left it | 425 years ago |
| luminosity | 275 × the Sun |
| radius | 15.6 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 5,940 K |
| constellation | Sagitta (Arrow) |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Sham
It is a yellow giant of class G, a star that has finished burning hydrogen at its centre and expanded to many times the Sun’s width. Its surface is about as warm as the Sun’s, but its far larger area lets it pour out far more light.
The name comes from the Arabic sahm, “arrow”, and was formally adopted by the IAU in recent years. Sagitta is one of the smallest constellations in the sky, but its shape is unmistakable: a short shaft with a forked tail, pointing east through the Milky Way just north of Aquila.
What you see in the piece
The arrow’s stars look like one neat shape from Earth. From space they lie at different depths, and Sham stands apart from its neighbours along the shaft.
Questions
What does Sham mean?
Sham comes from the Arabic word for arrow, the same idea as the constellation’s Latin name Sagitta.