If you’d like to thank your lucky stars for a bit of good fortune, we have two stars for you to look at. They’re the brightest stars of Aquarius. Both of them have names that mean “lucky.”
The brighter of the two is Sadalsuud. The name comes from an Arabic phrase that means something along the lines of “luckiest of the lucky.” When the name was bestowed, the star first appeared in the dawn sky around the spring equinox. The days were getting longer and warmer, and spring rains were settling in – bringing life-giving water to the fields. So the star was considered a sign of good fortune.
The other lucky star is Sadalmelik – “luck of the king.” The exact reason for its name is unclear, although it, too, may relate to the seasons.
Both stars are class-G supergiants. They’re about the same temperature and color as the Sun, but much bigger, heavier, and brighter. Both stars have passed through the prime phase of life, so their luck is running out – they’re nearing the end. Each will shed its outer layers and leave behind a massive white dwarf – a corpse about as heavy as the Sun, but only as big as Earth.
Aquarius is in the southeast at nightfall. The “lucky” stars line up parallel to the horizon, with Sadalmelik on the left. The stars are separated by about the width of your fist held at arm’s length. But they’re so far from us that they don’t look all that bright – a bit of bad luck for skywatchers.
Script by Damond Benningfield

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