Talitha is a white star on a front foot of the Great Bear, one of the pairs of stars Arabic tradition called the Leaps of the Gazelle.
At a glance
| type | white star (class A) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 47.3 light-years (14.5 pc) |
| its light left it | 47.3 years ago |
| luminosity | 10.9 × the Sun |
| radius | 1.78 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 7,850 K |
| constellation | Ursa Major (Great Bear) |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Talitha
The card describes a white star a little larger and brighter than the Sun, close to us by the standards of the figure. It is a multiple system, with fainter companions.
Under the Bear lie three pairs of stars, Talitha with Alkaphrah, Tania Borealis with Tania Australis, and Alula Borealis with Alula Australis. Arabic tradition saw them as the hoofprints of a leaping gazelle. Talitha’s name comes from the Arabic for the third, as in the third leap.
What you see in the piece
In the piece the pair is no pair at all: fly out and Talitha and Alkaphrah separate, lying at very different distances from the Sun.
Questions
What are the Leaps of the Gazelle?
Three pairs of stars below the Great Bear, Talitha and Alkaphrah, the two Tanias, and the two Alulas, seen in Arabic tradition as a gazelle’s hoofprints.