Star profile
Eta Horologium
What is Eta Horologium
Eta Horologii is a tight binary some 149 light-years away: two main-sequence stars —a blue-white A6 V and a yellower F0 V companion— circle each other every three years on a slightly eccentric orbit, separated in projection by barely 3.6 astronomical units. A pair almost in contact, decoded by decades of astrometry above the small southern Clock.
Where it is and when to see it
Eta Horologium 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, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never rises above the horizon.
- From New York it never rises above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 71° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 37° N.
It ranks no. 7 in brightness among the 18 stars of Horologium in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alpha Horologium, the brightest: it lies about 19° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 150 years ago.
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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 Eta Horologium
- Constellation
- Horologium
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.30
- Distance
- 148.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 39.351° · Dec -52.543°
- Catalogue
- HIP 12225 · HD 16555
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Other stars in Horologium
Horologium has 18 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Horologium3.85
- Delta Horologium4.93
- Beta Horologium4.98
- Mu Horologium5.12
- Zeta Horologium5.21
- Nu Horologium5.25
- HIP 201615.33
- Lambda Horologium5.36