Nu Draconis: A Bright Double Shines Like Diamond Earrings

Most double stars are too dim, or close together, to identify with an average pair of binoculars. A few, however, can be enjoyed this way. The ever popular Mizar in Ursa Major comes to mind. Another double star bright enough with good separation is Nu Draconis in Draco. The individual stars, called ν¹ Draconis and ν² Draconis, are close in brightness and color.

On his website, Jim Kaler provides a nice mental image of the proximity of the stars to each other. As Jim suggests, imagine you are standing on ν¹ Draconis looking at ν² Draconis. ν² Draconis would shine as bright as three full moons! The stars are approximately 1,900 astronomical units apart. Keeping in mind that one astronimcal unit is the distance from the earth to the sun, one can get an idea of how far they are apart. Still, from our vantage point, the two stars make a beautiful pair in the late spring and summer skies.

My Observations

Tonight, I’m searching through a list of late spring objects I have yet to see. On my list is the double star Kuma, also known as Nu Draconis.

I’m looking through my eyepiece in awe of how bright these twins are. They are like a pair of diamond earring studs on a black velvet blanket. They are very close in magnitude and color as they appear a bright white to me.

While the stars do not have the pretty contrasting colors like other notable doubles, this pair’s matching sparkling brightness makes them memorable and a must-see target in the late spring and summer sky.

Key Stats

Constellation	Draco
Best Viewing	Late Spring
Visual Magnitude	+4.8 | +4.8
Absolute Visual Magnitude	+2.48
Distance from Earth	100 ly
Separation	62″ | 1900 AU
Orbital Period	44000 yrs
Milky Way Location	Orion Spur
My Viewing Grade	A

Sources and Notes

Photo of Nu Draconis Banner: Photo by David Ritter and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Sketch by Wayne McGraw

AKA: Kuma, 24 Dra, SAO 30447