Star profile
Sigma Phoenicis
Hot blue starWhat is Sigma Phoenicis
Sigma Phoenicis is a hot blue type B star burning some 604 light-years away, in the bird that rises from its ashes. The constellation was traced by the Flemish navigators Keyser and de Houtman at the end of the sixteenth century, on their voyages to the East Indies, when the southern skies were being mapped for the first time with modern instruments. Sigma belongs to the plumage of that newly named bird.
Where it is and when to see it
Sigma Phoenicis lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is August: 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 Sigma Phoenicis
- Constellation
- Phoenix
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.18
- Distance
- 604.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 356.817° · Dec -50.226°
- Catalogue
- HIP 117315 · HD 223145
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Phoenix
Phoenix has 39 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AnkaaAlpha Phoenicis2.40
- Beta Phoenicis3.32
- Gamma Phoenicis3.41
- Phi Phoenicis5.12
- Pi Phoenicis5.13
- Chi Phoenicis5.15
- Upsilon Phoenicis5.21
- Rho Phoenicis5.24