Star profile
Alpha Octans
Variable starWhat is Alpha Octans
Alpha Octantis is an eclipsing binary system: two near-identical F stars orbiting each other every nine days or so, mutually covering each other's light every 2.88 days in a dance of eclipses visible from Earth. She lives in Octans, the constellation framing the southern celestial pole, in a corner of sky where no bright southern pole star exists. At 142 light-years, she is a pair turning in silence on an invisible axis.
Where it is and when to see it
Alpha Octans 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 Alpha Octans
- Constellation
- Octans
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.13
- Distance
- 142.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 316.179° · Dec -77.024°
- Catalogue
- HIP 104043 · HD 199532
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Octans
Octans has 35 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Nu Octans3.73
- Beta Octans4.13
- Delta Octans4.31
- Theta Octans4.78
- Epsilon Octans5.09
- Gamma 1 Octans5.10
- Lambda Octans5.27
- Gamma 3 Octans5.29