Star profile
Beta Octans
Southern polar starWhat is Beta Octans
Beta Octantis is one of the more useful beacons of the southern polar sky: the south celestial pole lies inside the Octant, and this white A-type star, 149 light-years away, ranks among its steadier references. There is no proper southern Polaris —faint Sigma Octantis only plays the role in name— so the few relatively bright stars of the Octant, this one among them, help travellers orient themselves in an almost empty patch of sky.
Where it is and when to see it
Beta Octans lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is July: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.
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The signature wall
Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.
A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works
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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 Beta Octans
- Constellation
- Octans
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.13
- Distance
- 149.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 341.515° · Dec -81.382°
- Catalogue
- HIP 112405 · HD 214846
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Octans
Octans has 35 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Nu Octans3.73
- Delta Octans4.31
- Theta Octans4.78
- Epsilon Octans5.09
- Gamma 1 Octans5.10
- Alpha Octans5.13
- Lambda Octans5.27
- Gamma 3 Octans5.29