Skip to main content

Mirfak

Alpha Persei · Perseus

Position (2026)

2°27' Gemini

Magnitude

1.79

Planetary Nature

Jupiter / Saturn (robson)

Spectral Type

F5Ib

Appearance

A yellow-white supergiant at the heart of the Alpha Persei cluster, the brightest star in Perseus

Name Origin

Language

Arabic

Original Form

Mirfaq al-Thurayyā

Meaning

Elbow of the Pleiades

Alpha Persei. From the Arabic Mirfaq, the elbow. The full name Mirfaq al-Thurayyā (Elbow of the Pleiades) refers to its position in the extended arm of the Perseus figure reaching toward the Pleiades. Also known as Algenib in some older catalogs, a name now assigned to Gamma Pegasi.

Known As

arabic: Mirfaq (the Elbow)latin: Algenib (an older alternative, now reassigned to Gamma Pegasi)chinese: Tiān Chuán sān (Third Star of the Celestial Boat)

Mirfak in Astrology

Mirfak, the elbow of Perseus the Hero, carries Jupiter-Saturn energy that bestows the ambition and discipline of a true hero's journey. It grants the capacity for bold action guided by a sense of larger purpose, and you often find yourself called to protect or champion causes that require both courage and strategic patience.

Mythology & History

Mirfak takes its name from the Arabic al-Mirfaq, meaning 'the elbow,' describing its position in the right arm of Perseus. It is the brightest star in Perseus and marks the hero's sword arm at the elbow, the joint that delivers the killing blow. In the mythology of Perseus, the right arm is the one that wielded the harpe, the adamantine sickle given by Hermes, to behead Medusa, while Athena provided the polished bronze shield he used to avoid the Gorgon's petrifying gaze. Mirfak's Jupiter-Saturn nature combines the expansive courage needed for the quest with the disciplined precision required for the fatal strike.

Perseus Context

Mirfak marks the elbow of Perseus' sword arm, situated between the hand that holds Medusa's head (where Algol sits) and the shoulder that drives the striking force. Perseus is the constellation of the divinely aided hero, the mortal who accomplished what should have been impossible through a combination of courage, cunning, and supernatural assistance. Mirfak at the elbow represents the mechanical hinge of heroic action: the pivot point where intention becomes execution.

Learn more about Perseus and its stars.

Natal Conjunctions

Find your conjunctions →

Mirfak Conjunct Sun

Mirfak conjunct the Sun produces a personality oriented toward the hero's journey and bold action guided by a sense of higher purpose. You possess the discipline to pursue ambitious goals and the courage to act decisively when the moment demands it, combining Jupiter's vision with Saturn's strategic patience.

Mirfak Conjunct Moon

Mirfak conjunct the Moon creates emotional instincts attuned to the call of adventure and the need for purposeful, courageous action. Your feelings respond strongly to situations requiring heroic intervention, and emotional fulfillment comes through rising to challenges that test your character.

Mirfak Conjunct Mercury

Mirfak conjunct Mercury gives a mind oriented toward strategic heroic action and the disciplined planning of bold enterprises. You think with the clarity of someone preparing for a decisive engagement and communicate with the focused precision of a hero who knows what must be done.

Mirfak Conjunct Venus

Mirfak conjunct Venus brings the hero's devotion to love and creative expression. You pursue beauty and relationship with purposeful courage, and creative work carries the quality of something created in service of a larger quest. Love inspires heroic action rather than passive contentment.

Mirfak Conjunct Mars

Mirfak conjunct Mars amplifies heroic courage into exceptional decisive action. You strike with disciplined precision at the critical moment, possessing both the boldness to act and the strategic awareness to choose the right point of intervention. The hero's timing is your natural gift.

Mirfak Conjunct Jupiter

Mirfak conjunct Jupiter expands the heroic impulse into visionary leadership and philosophical adventure. You pursue large, principled goals with the combined force of courageous action and expansive vision, and your ambition carries the weight of genuine higher purpose.

Mirfak Conjunct Saturn

Mirfak conjunct Saturn grounds heroic impulse in disciplined preparation and strategic patience. You understand that the hero's decisive moment is earned through years of training and preparation, and your courage is strengthened by the depth of your readiness.

Mirfak Conjunct Uranus

Mirfak conjunct Uranus channels heroic energy into unexpected, revolutionary action. You perform the hero's intervention from angles no one anticipated, and your courage breaks with conventional approaches to produce results that change the terms of engagement entirely.

Mirfak Conjunct Neptune

Mirfak conjunct Neptune infuses the hero's journey with spiritual dimension and intuitive guidance. You sense when the moment for decisive action has arrived through inner knowing rather than rational calculation, and your heroic acts carry a quality of divinely guided timing.

Mirfak Conjunct Pluto

Mirfak conjunct Pluto transforms heroic action into encounters with fundamental, life-altering power. You are drawn to situations requiring the total commitment of the hero's sacrifice, and your decisive interventions permanently alter the landscape they enter.

Mirfak Conjunct North Node

Mirfak conjunct the North Node orients destiny toward the hero's path of bold, purposeful action guided by disciplined preparation and higher principle.

Mirfak Conjunct Ascendant

Mirfak on the Ascendant gives the bearing of someone prepared for decisive action. Others sense your readiness and the disciplined courage behind your composure, and your presence communicates the quality of a trained hero awaiting the moment.

Mirfak Conjunct Midheaven

Mirfak on the Midheaven builds a career through decisive, heroic professional action at critical moments. Recognition comes through your ability to act with courage and precision when the stakes are highest, and your reputation rests on proven boldness under pressure.

Paran Interpretations

Parans describe what happens when Mirfak and a planet simultaneously occupy the four angles (rising, culminating, setting, nadir) at a given location.

Find your parans →

Mirfak in Paran with Sun

Rising

Mirfak rising with the Sun marks someone who enters life with the hero's instinct for bold, purposeful action.

Culminating

Mirfak culminating with the Sun places heroic decisive action at the absolute peak of public career recognition.

Setting

Mirfak setting with the Sun suggests a legacy of courageous, decisive interventions honored long after their moment.

At the Nadir

Mirfak at the nadir with the Sun reveals a deeply private heroic discipline that silently prepares for decisive outward action.

Mirfak in Paran with Moon

Rising

Mirfak rising with the Moon instills early emotional courage and the instinct to respond heroically to calls for help.

Culminating

Mirfak culminating with the Moon brings emotionally courageous action to its most publicly visible and recognized form.

Setting

Mirfak setting with the Moon indicates heroic emotional courage that matures into wise, principled responsiveness with age.

At the Nadir

Mirfak at the nadir with the Moon conceals deep reserves of emotional courage that surface heroically when others need protection.

Mirfak in Paran with Mercury

Rising

Mirfak rising with Mercury bestows early strategic intelligence and the ability to plan decisive, heroic interventions.

Culminating

Mirfak culminating with Mercury elevates strategic heroic communication and decisive thinking to the highest professional level.

Setting

Mirfak setting with Mercury suggests strategic thinking that grows more heroically precise and disciplined with experience.

At the Nadir

Mirfak at the nadir with Mercury reveals hidden strategic depth and heroic planning ability beneath composed, measured surfaces.

Mirfak in Paran with Venus

Rising

Mirfak rising with Venus shapes early love with the hero's purposeful devotion and courageous creative expression.

Culminating

Mirfak culminating with Venus brings recognition for love and art expressed with heroic purpose and disciplined beauty.

Setting

Mirfak setting with Venus suggests creative and romantic expression that gains heroic depth and purposeful beauty with maturity.

At the Nadir

Mirfak at the nadir with Venus conceals a private heroic devotion to beauty and love that quietly inspires all creative work.

Mirfak in Paran with Mars

Rising

Mirfak rising with Mars produces exceptional early decisive courage and the instinct for precisely timed heroic action.

Culminating

Mirfak culminating with Mars places heroic martial precision and decisive courage at the absolute apex of career achievement.

Setting

Mirfak setting with Mars indicates heroic fighting ability that grows more strategically precise and disciplined with age.

At the Nadir

Mirfak at the nadir with Mars conceals extraordinary reserves of heroic fighting energy deployed at the most critical moments.

Mirfak in Paran with Jupiter

Rising

Mirfak rising with Jupiter expands early heroic instincts into broad, visionary campaigns of principled, bold action.

Culminating

Mirfak culminating with Jupiter brings peak achievement through expansive heroic leadership guided by philosophical principle.

Setting

Mirfak setting with Jupiter indicates growing heroic wisdom and expanding principled influence in the purposeful later years.

At the Nadir

Mirfak at the nadir with Jupiter reveals a vast inner heroic vision and philosophical conviction that fuels all decisive action.

Mirfak in Paran with Saturn

Rising

Mirfak rising with Saturn demands early discipline in preparing for the hero's decisive moments through patient training.

Culminating

Mirfak culminating with Saturn achieves lasting heroic authority through decades of disciplined preparation and proven courage.

Setting

Mirfak setting with Saturn builds an enduring reputation for disciplined heroic action refined and validated across a lifetime.

At the Nadir

Mirfak at the nadir with Saturn establishes the deepest inner reserves of heroic discipline and strategic preparation.

Mirfak in Paran with Ascendant

Rising

Mirfak rising with the Ascendant stamps the personality with the hero's readiness and visible disciplined courage.

Culminating

Mirfak culminating with the Ascendant projects heroic bearing and decisive personal authority onto the widest possible stage.

Setting

Mirfak setting with the Ascendant draws others who sense your heroic preparedness and are reassured by your disciplined courage.

At the Nadir

Mirfak at the nadir with the Ascendant grounds personal identity in deeply private heroic discipline and strategic readiness.

Mirfak in Paran with Midheaven

Rising

Mirfak rising with the Midheaven launches a career defined by decisive, heroic professional action from the earliest steps.

Culminating

Mirfak culminating with the Midheaven represents the apex of career achievement through heroic leadership and bold precision.

Setting

Mirfak setting with the Midheaven indicates a career legacy of heroic interventions and decisive action valued long after.

At the Nadir

Mirfak at the nadir with the Midheaven builds career success on hidden foundations of heroic preparation and strategic discipline.

heroic executiondecisive pivotcourageous actiondisciplined precisiondivinely aidedstriking force

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the name Mirfak mean?

The name Mirfak comes from Arabic: Mirfaq al-Thurayyā, meaning "Elbow of the Pleiades." Alpha Persei. The star is known by 3 different cultural names across world traditions.

Check if Mirfak is active in your chart

Enter your birth data to see which fixed stars conjoin your natal planets.

Track the stars that shape your chart

Fixed stars activate when transiting planets cross them. Create a free account to track daily transits, get personalized readings, and see how stellar influences unfold over time.

Daily ReadingsTransit TrackingNatal Chart

Related Stars