Star profile
Nu Microscopium
What is Nu Microscopium
Nu Microscopii is an orange giant just over two hundred light-years away, in one of the constellations invented by Lacaille in the eighteenth century during his expedition to the Cape of Good Hope. Lacaille christened sixteen southern figures after scientific instruments, and the Microscope was one of them. Nu is among the more visible stars within that small tribute to enlightenment science.
Where it is and when to see it
Nu Microscopium lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is July: 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 Nu Microscopium
- Constellation
- Microscopium
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.12
- Distance
- 234.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 308.479° · Dec -44.516°
- Catalogue
- HIP 101477 · HD 195569
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Microscopium
Microscopium has 23 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Gamma Microscopium4.67
- Epsilon Microscopium4.71
- Theta 1 Microscopium4.80
- Alpha Microscopium4.89
- Iota Microscopium5.11
- HIP 1041745.20
- HIP 1047385.25
- Zeta Microscopium5.32