Star profile
61 Cygni
Variable starWhat is 61 Cygni
61 Cygni is the star that resized the universe. In 1838 Friedrich Bessel made the first successful stellar parallax measurement and chose this orange dwarf in the Swan, proving that stars sit at vast yet measurable distances. Just 11.4 light-years away, it is one of the Sun's closest neighbours and races across the sky so fast that Piazzi once nicknamed it «the Flying Star».
Where it is and when to see it
61 Cygni lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is August, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never sets and culminates about 77° up.
- From New York it culminates about 88° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 17° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 51° S.
It ranks no. 61 in brightness among the 137 stars of Cygnus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Deneb, the brightest: it lies about 8° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 11 years ago.
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Astronomical data for 61 Cygni
- Constellation
- Cygnus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.20
- Distance
- 11.4 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 316.722° · Dec 38.749°
- Catalogue
- HIP 104214 · HD 201091
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Other stars in Cygnus
Cygnus has 137 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- DenebAlpha Cygni1.25
- SadrGamma Cygni2.23
- AljanahEpsilon Cygni2.48
- 4 Cygni5.17
- HIP 964595.17
- 19 Cygni5.18
- 71 Cygni5.22
- HIP 999685.27