Star profile
Beta Indus
Highly luminous starWhat is Beta Indus
The second-brightest star of the dim constellation of the Indian shines with orange light from 612 light-years away — a distance that reveals an intrinsically luminous giant, not a nearby ember. The light now crossing our telescopes set out in the late Renaissance and travelled in silence while empires rose and kings fell. In the southern sky it marks one of the shoulders of the imaginary hunter sketched by Pieter Keyser and Frederick de Houtman after their voyage home from Java in the 16th century.
Where it is and when to see it
Beta Indus 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 never rises above the horizon.
- From New York it never rises above the horizon.
- From Sydney it never sets and culminates about 65° up.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 32° N.
It ranks no. 2 in brightness among the 19 stars of Indus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alpha Indus, the brightest: it lies about 11° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 610 years ago.
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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 Beta Indus
- Constellation
- Indus
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.67
- Distance
- 612.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 313.702° · Dec -58.454°
- Catalogue
- HIP 103227 · HD 198700
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Other stars in Indus
Indus has 19 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Indus3.11
- Theta Indus4.39
- Delta Indus4.40
- Eta Indus4.51
- Epsilon Indus4.69
- Zeta Indus4.90
- Iota Indus5.06
- Mu Indus5.17