Star profile
Theta Cepheus
What is Theta Cepheus
Theta Cephei is a white A7-type star about 136 light-years away, a spectroscopic binary betrayed by the periodic wobble of its light. It belongs to Cepheus, the mythical king and husband of Cassiopeia, and forms part of the Celestial Hook of Chinese astronomy, a faint line traced through the constellation. Hard to spot from a city, in a dark sky it emerges with quiet poise.
Where it is and when to see it
Theta Cepheus lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is September: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.
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The signature wall
Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.
A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works
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A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.
Astronomical data for Theta Cepheus
- Constellation
- Cepheus
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.21
- Distance
- 136.5 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 307.395° · Dec 62.994°
- Catalogue
- HIP 101093 · HD 195725
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Cepheus
Cepheus has 95 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AlderaminAlpha Cepheus2.45
- ErraiGamma Cepheus3.21
- AlfirkBeta Cepheus3.23
- Iota Cepheus3.50
- Delta Cepheus4.07
- Epsilon Cepheus4.18
- Mu Cepheus4.23
- HIP 53724.24