Star profile
Upsilon Cygni
Variable starWhat is Upsilon Cygni
Upsilon Cygni is a luminous blue giant 642 light-years away, in the tail of the Swan, almost aligned with the Cygnus Rift — the great corridor of galactic dust that splits the summer Milky Way. Its surface exceeds twenty thousand degrees and radiates mostly in the ultraviolet: what the human eye sees is barely the visible tip of a far harsher torrent.
Where it is and when to see it
Upsilon 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 culminates about 73° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 84° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 21° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 55° S.
It ranks no. 21 in brightness among the 137 stars of Cygnus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Deneb, the brightest: it lies about 12° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 640 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Upsilon Cygni
- Constellation
- Cygnus
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.41
- Distance
- 642.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 319.479° · Dec 34.897°
- Catalogue
- HIP 105138 · HD 202904
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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
- Sigma Cygni4.22
- Pi 2 Cygni4.23
- 33 Cygni4.28
- 39 Cygni4.43
- Mu 1 Cygni4.49