Star profile
Rho Ceti
What is Rho Ceti
Rho Ceti shines white at 456 light-years, set inside the huge outline of the great sea monster that the hero Perseus once faced down to rescue Andromeda. It is an A-type star, cosmically young, with the hot atmosphere that defines that band of the spectral catalogue. The Whale keeps this silent star on her flank, its clean light withstanding the passage of time without hurry.
Where it is and when to see it
Rho Ceti lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is October: 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 Rho Ceti
- Constellation
- Cetus
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.88
- Distance
- 456.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 36.488° · Dec -12.290°
- Catalogue
- HIP 11345 · HD 15130
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Cetus
Cetus has 111 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- DiphdaBeta Ceti2.04
- MenkarAlpha Ceti2.54
- Eta Ceti3.46
- Epsilon Ceti4.83
- Kappa 1 Ceti4.84
- Nu Ceti4.87
- 6 Ceti4.89
- 46 Ceti4.90