Star profile

Pi Cepheus

3D likeness based on its real data · class G · ~5,500 K

What is Pi Cepheus

Pi Cephei is a yellow triple system: an inner pair completing its dance every year and a half, while a more distant third star takes about 160 years to round its course. The combined light reaches the eye as a single point, but hides a piece of celestial clockwork 247 light-years away, in the northern reach where myth placed the king of Ethiopia.

Where it is and when to see it

Pi 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 November, when it culminates around midnight.

From London it never sets and culminates about 66° up.
From New York it never sets and culminates about 55° up.
From Sydney it never rises above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere north of 15° S.

It ranks no. 15 in brightness among the 95 stars of Cepheus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alderamin, the brightest: it lies about 16° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 250 years ago.

Find it on the sky map

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Astronomical data for Pi Cepheus

Constellation: Cepheus
Apparent magnitude: 4.41
Distance: 246.7 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 346.974° · Dec 75.387°
Catalogue: HIP 114222 · HD 218658

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.

See all 95 stars in Cepheus