Iota Carinae is a star

Star

A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...

 in the constellation

Constellation

In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....

 Carina

Carina (constellation)

Carina is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the keel of a ship, and it was formerly part of the larger constellation of Argo Navis until that constellation was divided in three.-Stars:...

. It is one of the brighter stars in the night sky.

It has the traditional names Aspidiske, Scutulum and Turais (Tureis). Turais is from the Arabic تُرَيْس turais "shield (diminutive

Diminutive

In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...

)", while Aspidiske and Scutulum are the Greek and Latin translations, the diminutives of ασπίδα and scūtum "shield".

In Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

, , meaning Sea Rock, refers to an asterism consisting of ι Carinae, ε Carinae

Epsilon Carinae

Epsilon Carinae is a star in the constellation Carina. At apparent magnitude +1.86 it is one of the brightest stars in the night sky, but is not visible from the northern hemisphere....

, HD 83183

HD 83183

HD 83183, also known as h Carinae is a star in the constellation Carina. It is a blue-white B-type bright giant with an apparent magnitude of +4.08 and is approximately 1980 light years from Earth....

, HD 84810

HD 84810

HD 84810, also known as l Carinae is a star in the constellation Carina.l Carinae is a yellow G-type supergiant with a mean apparent magnitude of +3.69. It is approximately 1510 light years from Earth. It is classified as a Cepheid variable star and its brightness varies from magnitude +3.28 to...

 and υ Carinae

Upsilon Carinae

Upsilon Carinae is a binary star in the constellation Carina. It is part of the Diamond Cross asterism in southern Carina....

  . Consequently, ι Carinae itself is known as

Iota Carinae is of spectral type

Stellar classification

In astronomy, stellar classification is a classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. The spectral class of a star is a designated class of a star describing the ionization of its chromosphere, what atomic excitations are most prominent in the light, giving an objective measure...

 A8 or F0, so it is probably a large and powerful white to yellow-white star. Due to precession

Precession

Precession is a change in the orientation of the rotation axis of a rotating body. It can be defined as a change in direction of the rotation axis in which the second Euler angle is constant...

, Iota Carinae will be the South Star in about 8100 CE.

Iota Carinae should not be confused with Asmidiske (ξ Puppis

Xi Puppis

Xi Puppis is a star of magnitude +3.34 in the constellation Puppis. It has the traditional name Asmidiske , a misplacement and mistransliteration of Aspidiske, the traditional name of ι Carinae....

), a slightly dimmer star residing in a nearby section of the sky.