Star profile
Kappa Andromedae
Hot blue starWhat is Kappa Andromedae
Kappa Andromedae is a blue B-type star about 168 light-years away, young and spinning at dizzying speed. In 2012 it entered modern observational history when telescopes directly imaged a giant planetary-mass companion orbiting it, now known as Kappa Andromedae b. It stands among the rare bright stars around which a distant world has been captured in a real photograph, rather than inferred from indirect signals.
Where it is and when to see it
Kappa Andromedae 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: 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 Kappa Andromedae
- Constellation
- Andromeda
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.15
- Distance
- 168.4 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 355.102° · Dec 44.334°
- Catalogue
- HIP 116805 · HD 222439
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Andromeda
Andromeda has 81 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- MirachBeta Andromedae2.07
- AlpheratzAlpha Andromedae2.07
- AlmachGamma 1 Andromedae2.10
- Mu Andromedae3.86
- Zeta Andromedae4.08
- TitawinUpsilon Andromedae4.10
- Phi Andromedae4.26
- Iota Andromedae4.29