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Star profile

Sigma Cygni

Hot blue star
3D likeness based on its real data · class B · ~15,000 K

What is Sigma Cygni

Sigma Cygni is a blue supergiant almost three thousand light-years away, embedded in the Cygnus OB4 association. Its atmosphere is chemically strange: abnormally rich in helium, nitrogen, calcium, cerium and europium, depleted in carbon and aluminium. Corrected for the light absorbed by interstellar dust, it shines more than fifty thousand times brighter than the Sun. Internal pulsations with a 1.59-hour period stir its spectral lines while leaving its brightness untouched.

Where it is and when to see it

Sigma 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 September: 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.

Find it on the sky map

It opens in your browser. Free, no account, nothing to install.

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

If you don't have an account yet, we'll ask for an email to confirm it's you: we send you a link and that's it, no password.

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 Sigma Cygni

Constellation
Cygnus
Apparent magnitude
4.22
Distance
2886.7 light years
Coordinates (J2000)
RA 319.354° · Dec 39.395°
Catalogue
HIP 105102 · HD 202850

A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.

Other stars in Cygnus

Cygnus has 137 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 137 stars in Cygnus