Star profile
Lambda Cepheus
Hot blue starWhat is Lambda Cepheus
Lambda Cephei is a blue O-type supergiant, one of the hottest and most luminous stars visible to the naked eye, set almost two thousand light-years away. It is also a famous runaway, ejected from its parent association and now ploughing through the interstellar medium so fast that its stellar wind compresses the surrounding gas into a bow shock. It lives in a hurry and will die young, in a supernova explosion.
Where it is and when to see it
Lambda 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 82° up.
- From New York it never sets and culminates about 71° up.
- From Sydney it never rises above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 31° S.
It ranks no. 25 in brightness among the 95 stars of Cepheus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alderamin, the brightest: it lies about 7° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 2,000 years ago.
It opens in your browser. Free, no account, nothing to install.
Leave your signature on Lambda Cepheus
Your name and a message go up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.
Without a lock, someone else can replace your signature. How the lock works
We'll ask for an email to confirm it's you, no password.
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 Lambda Cepheus
- Constellation
- Cepheus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.05
- Distance
- 1977.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 332.877° · Dec 59.414°
- Catalogue
- HIP 109556 · HD 210839
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
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
- HIP 1125194.77
- 24 Cepheus4.79
- 16 Cepheus5.04
- HIP 1173715.05
- HIP 373915.05