Star profile

Lambda Grus

Cool red star

3D likeness based on its real data · class M · ~3,200 K

What is Lambda Grus

Lambda Gruis burns within the Crane as a cool, vastly extended M-type red giant some 242 light-years away. In its thin atmosphere, molecules form that would never survive the Sun’s heat; the light escaping from there reaches Earth tinted a deep, ember-like red. Set within a relatively modern southern constellation, charted by Dutch navigators at the close of the sixteenth century, it offers southern skies one of those coppery points that break the dominant blue-white grain of the night.

Where it is and when to see it

Lambda Grus 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 culminates about 10° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 84° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere south of 50° N.

It ranks no. 10 in brightness among the 39 stars of Grus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alnair, the brightest: it lies about 7° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 240 years ago.

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Astronomical data for Lambda Grus

Constellation: Grus
Apparent magnitude: 4.47
Distance: 242.2 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 331.529° · Dec -39.543°
Catalogue: HIP 109111 · HD 209688

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Other stars in Grus

Grus has 39 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 39 stars in Grus