Star profile
Pi 2 Hydrus
What is Pi 2 Hydrus
π² Hydri is an orange giant nearly five hundred light-years away, in the small Male Water Snake traced by Keyser and de Houtman to distinguish it from the great northern Hydra. With π¹ it forms an optical pair that threads both stars across the southern polar sky. Its warm light crosses centuries in a remote region of the firmament, almost touching the southern celestial pole.
Where it is and when to see it
Pi 2 Hydrus lies in the southern 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 rises above the horizon.
- From New York it never rises above the horizon.
- From Sydney it never sets and culminates about 56° up.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 22° N.
It ranks no. 14 in brightness among the 20 stars of Hydrus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Beta Hydrus, the brightest: it lies about 12° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 490 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Pi 2 Hydrus
- Constellation
- Hydrus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.67
- Distance
- 488.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 33.869° · Dec -67.746°
- Catalogue
- HIP 10513 · HD 14287
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Other stars in Hydrus
Hydrus has 20 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Beta Hydrus2.82
- Alpha Hydrus2.86
- Gamma Hydrus3.26
- Theta Hydrus5.51
- Iota Hydrus5.51
- Pi 1 Hydrus5.57
- HIP 145215.67
- HIP 79215.70