Star profile
Tau Capricorni
Hot blue starWhat is Tau Capricorni
Tau Capricorni is a blue-white B-type star more than eleven hundred light-years away, in the ancient constellation of the Sea-Goat. Its naked-eye light is faint —magnitude 5.24— yet it actually belongs to a sun tens of times more luminous than ours: distance does all the work of dimming. Every photon caught tonight left the star before the first Gothic cathedral was raised.
Where it is and when to see it
Tau Capricorni 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, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it culminates about 24° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 34° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 71° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 75° N.
It ranks no. 24 in brightness among the 48 stars of Capricornus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Deneb Algedi, the brightest: it lies about 16° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 1,100 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Tau Capricorni
- Constellation
- Capricornus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.24
- Distance
- 1136.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 309.818° · Dec -14.955°
- Catalogue
- HIP 101923 · HD 196662
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Other stars in Capricornus
Capricornus has 48 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Deneb AlgediDelta Capricorni2.85
- DabihBeta Capricorni3.05
- AlgediAlpha 2 Capricorni3.58
- Upsilon Capricorni5.15
- 42 Capricorni5.16
- Phi Capricorni5.17
- 41 Capricorni5.24
- Sigma Capricorni5.28