Star profile
Nu Cepheus
Variable starWhat is Nu Cepheus
Nu Cephei is an extremely luminous white supergiant in the constellation of the Ethiopian King. Its brightness shifts gently —the subtle pulse of a massive star nearing the end of its life— and ranks it among the most distant stars still faintly visible to the unaided eye. In the sky, Cepheus eternally watches his queen Cassiopeia and his chained daughter Andromeda.
Where it is and when to see it
Nu Cepheus lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is October, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never sets and culminates about 80° up.
- From New York it never sets and culminates about 70° up.
- From Sydney it never rises above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 29° S.
It ranks no. 12 in brightness among the 95 stars of Cepheus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alderamin, the brightest: it lies about 3° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 330,000 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Nu Cepheus
- Constellation
- Cepheus
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.25
- Distance
- 326200.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 326.362° · Dec 61.121°
- Catalogue
- HIP 107418 · HD 207260
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Other stars in Cepheus
Cepheus has 95 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AlderaminAlpha Cepheus2.45
- ErraiGamma Cepheus3.21
- AlfirkBeta Cepheus3.23
- Theta Cepheus4.21
- Mu Cepheus4.23
- HIP 53724.24
- KurhahXi Cepheus4.26
- Kappa Cepheus4.38