Star profile
HIP 118277
Variable starWhat is HIP 118277
The Sculptor, a quiet constellation of the southern hemisphere, holds this orange variable giant 738 light-years away. Its light set out when Marco Polo was returning to Venice with his tales of Cathay and the Chinese printing press was just beginning to reproduce books. A K-class pulse that crossed the Middle Ages to arrive, still trembling, on this very night.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 118277 lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is September: 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 HIP 118277
- Constellation
- Sculptor
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.59
- Distance
- 738.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 359.866° · Dec -29.485°
- Catalogue
- HIP 118277 · HD 224630
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Sculptor
Sculptor has 33 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Sculptor4.30
- Beta Sculptor4.38
- Gamma Sculptor4.41
- HIP 72135.49
- Sigma Sculptor5.50
- HIP 26615.55
- Xi Sculptor5.59
- HIP 1142545.60