Star profile
Rho Cygni
What is Rho Cygni
Rho Cygni is a yellow type G star hanging from the wing of the great swan, about 124 light-years away. It is a distant cousin of the Sun —same spectral class, comparable brightness beneath alien skies— yet already a giant, swollen by the passage of time. The Northern Cross unfurls around it like a luminous trail of the summer Milky Way, and Rho holds a quiet but steady place in that vast plumage.
Where it is and when to see it
Rho 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, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never sets and culminates about 84° up.
- From New York it culminates about 85° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 11° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 44° S.
It ranks no. 15 in brightness among the 137 stars of Cygnus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Deneb, the brightest: it lies about 9° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 120 years ago.
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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 Rho Cygni
- Constellation
- Cygnus
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.98
- Distance
- 123.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 323.495° · Dec 45.592°
- Catalogue
- HIP 106481 · HD 205435
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.
- DenebAlpha Cygni1.25
- SadrGamma Cygni2.23
- AljanahEpsilon Cygni2.48
- Eta Cygni3.89
- Nu Cygni3.94
- 32 Cygni3.96
- 41 Cygni4.01
- 52 Cygni4.22