Urquchillay

Authors: Steven R. Gullberg, Susanne M Hoffmann, Eric Mamajek, Youla Azkarrula

---

File:Llamas at La Silla (potw1417a).tiff

Llama petroglyphs. This image shows an ancient sun-scorched boulder near ESO's [/public/teles-instr/lasilla.html La Silla Observatory] in Chile (CC BY ESO/H. Dahle).

Urquchillay constellation.

Urquchillay is the name of the Inka god of livestock and wildlife; it was the protector of animals, especially llamas and alpacas: The Inka believed that he watched over their herds from the night sky. As a constellation, he is represented in the area of Lyra. As an Inka constellation, it has been used in South America.

Since 2026, Urqchillay is also a modern star name for the star ζ2 Lyr; the companion ζ1 Lyr is called Kautoki.

Provenance, Etymology, History

Spelling Variants

• Urquchillay (Qechua spelling)
• Urcuchillay (Spanish spelling)

Origin of Constellation

In Inka mythology, Urquchillay is the god of animals who watches over wildlife. Inkan herders would ask Urcuchillay to watch over their herds during the night. Urquchillay is represented by a multicolored male llama. This multicolored coat was used to represent life and wonder. This falls within what we know as the constellation Lyra, with the deity watching over animals during the night as people sleep. Urquchillay, was the god of wildlife, both domesticated llama and alpacas, as well as animals in the jungles. As a god of wildlife, Urquchillay was also associated with prosperity. The Inkas would pray to Urquchillay for the prosperity of the herds for fleece from which to make textiles and clothing, as pack animals, and for meat.

These two constellations are located in the constellation presently known as Lyra, and within that region are three important stars: Vega, Altair, and Deneb. Urquchillay represented lambs and therefore was responsible for their care and their procreation. It is thought that Urquchillay was Vega and Qatachillay was Deneb and these appear in the drawing of Salqamaywa. In Cusco and Qurawasi these were called crossover stars because they represent stones used to cross a river. The river in the sky, Ch`askamayu, is the Milky Way. This included the stars Gienach and Sadr and can indicate a crossing the Celestial Equator. We can interpret Qatachillay from translation, to bring the foothills, and this is near a region of many stars that look like a hill on whose summit is the nebula NGC7000, which gives the image of a volcano.

Identifications

Depending on the season and context, the term "Urquchillay" is identified with a group of stars in Lyra, sometimes only the bright star Vega.

Sources, Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation

Here we give a list of all sources where the name is attested.

Image Variants: Transfer and Transformation

• ancient manuscript 1
  ancient manuscript 1
• Steve's mapping
  Steve's mapping
• Jessica's painting ... something else ...
  Jessica's painting ... something else ...

Mythology

mnemonic tales and cultural significance

All HIP Stars within this constellation

Convex Hull for the stars inside Urquchillay (CC BY Youla Azkarrula).

Stars within the Constellation Area

id	Label	IAU design.	description	Vmag
1	Vega	HIP 91262	Constellation lines (Vertex)	0.03
2	Sulafat	HIP 93194	Constellation lines (Vertex)	3.25
3	Sheliak	HIP 92420	Constellation lines (Vertex)	3.42
4	NAME del Lyr Cluster	NAME del Lyr Cluster	Inside the hull	3.8
5	δ 2 Lyrae	HIP 92791	Constellation lines (Vertex)	4.3
6	ζ 1 Lyrae	HIP 91971	Constellation lines	4.36
7	-	HR 7162	Inside the hull	5.277
8	δ 1 Lyrae	HIP 92728	Inside the hull	5.573
9	ζ 2 Lyrae	HIP 91973	Inside the hull	5.585
10	-	HIP 92833	Inside the hull	6.03
11	Xihe	HIP 91852	Inside the hull	6.037
12	-	HIP 92551	Inside the hull	6.082
13	-	HIP 91552	Inside the hull	6.489

On 18 June 2026, WGSN adopted the name Urquchillay for the star ζ2 Lyr (HR 7057, HD 173649, HIP 91973). The star has apparent V magnitude of 5.73, and was spectrally classified as F1Vnn by Gray et al. (2001). The "nn" in the spectral type implies strong line broadening in the star's absorption lines consistent with very rapid rotation -- in this case a projected rotation velocity (vsini) of roughly 240 km/s, more than 100x faster than the rotation of the Sun. The very rapid rotation of the star has led to the prediction that it should be extremely oblate, perhaps of order 0.29, implying the polar diameter should be approximately 29% smaller than the equatorial diameter (van Belle 2012)

The star is in a wide multiple system (WDS J18448+3746, STFA 38) with the neighboring brighter star ζ1 Lyr, with separation of 44 arcseconds. ζ1 LyrT is itself a spectroscopic binary, making ζ Lyr (ζ1 Lyr + ζ2 Lyr) system at least a triple. The astrometric data from Gaia DR3 shows that their parallaxes and proper motions are nearly identical, implying they constitute a gravitationally bound system at distance 48 parsecs.

References

• References (general)