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Deneb's exact distance from the Earth is a matter of some dispute; most equally distant stars are not visible to the naked eye, and may be identified only by catalog numbers, if they are known at all. Figures from 1600 to 3200 light years appear on various online sources. It should be noted that determination of distances at this range is very difficult; parallax cannot be used.
Because the distance is not precisely known, it is impossible to determine Deneb's exact luminosity. Estimate range from about 60,000 times the brightness of our Sun (if Deneb is 1600 light years away) to 250,000 times the Sun's brightness (if 3200 light years away). If Deneb were a point source of light at the Sun's distance from Earth, it would be far brighter than most industrial lasers; It generates more light in one day than the Sun does in 140 years.
The star appears to have a diameter about 160 to 200 times that of the Sun; if placed at the center of our Solar System, Deneb would extend to the orbit of the Earth. A star of spectral type A2Ia, Deneb has a surface temperature of 8,400 kelvin.
The name comes from the Arabic Al Dhanab, the tail. The same name (or a very similar one) was given to a at least five different stars, most notably Deneb Kaitos , the brightest star in the constellation Cetus, and Denebola, the second brightest star in Leo.
In the Chinese love story of Qi Qiao Jie, Deneb marks the magpie bridge across the Milky Way which allows the separated lovers Niu Lang ( AltairAltair (α Aquilae) is a star in the Aquila constellation. It is a white star of visual magnitude 0. 77, the twelfth brightest star in the skies. It is a vertex of the Summer Triangle. Located 17 light years away from Earth, it is one of the closest) and Zhi Nu ( VegaThis article is about Vega, the star. For other uses: see Vega (disambiguation Vega Alpha Lyrae is the lead star in the constellation Lyra, reaching near directly overhead in the mid-northern latitudes, during the Northern Hemisphere summer. It is a "near) to be reunited on one special night of the year in late summer. In other versions of the story Deneb is a fairy who acts as chaperone when the lovers meet across the bridge of magpies.