Star profile
Iota Eridani
What is Iota Eridani
Iota Eridani is an orange giant set along the long, winding course of the river Eridanus. With barely thirty percent more mass than the Sun, it has swollen to eleven times its radius: a likely future of the Sun itself, glimpsed from one hundred and fifty light-years away, in the midst of helium-burning at its core.
Where it is and when to see it
Iota Eridani lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is October, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never rises above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 9° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 84° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 50° N.
It ranks no. 19 in brightness among the 129 stars of Eridanus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Achernar, the brightest: it lies about 20° 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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Astronomical data for Iota Eridani
- Constellation
- Eridanus
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.11
- Distance
- 150.7 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 40.167° · Dec -39.855°
- Catalogue
- HIP 12486 · HD 16815
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Other stars in Eridanus
Eridanus has 129 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AchernarAlpha Eridani0.45
- CursaBeta Eridani2.78
- AcamarTheta 1 Eridani2.88
- Mu Eridani4.01
- BeidOmicron 1 Eridani4.04
- Tau 3 Eridani4.08
- HIP 178744.17
- Tau 6 Eridani4.22