Star profile
6 Eridani
What is 6 Eridani
6 Eridani pulses at the northern tip of the river Eridanus, not far from the hunter Orion who marks the winter sky. It is an orange K-type star, a giant with a tempered surface and a golden tone, whose light needs six hundred and sixty-three years to cross the void to Earth. Its photons set out when the great Mediterranean navigators had yet to cross the oceans of the known world.
Where it is and when to see it
6 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 culminates about 15° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 26° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 80° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 66° N.
It ranks no. 111 in brightness among the 129 stars of Eridanus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Achernar, the brightest: it lies about 37° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 660 years ago.
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Astronomical data for 6 Eridani
- Constellation
- Eridanus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.82
- Distance
- 663.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 44.524° · Dec -23.606°
- Catalogue
- HIP 13835 · HD 18535
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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
- HIP 141875.81
- HIP 177985.81
- HIP 204655.81
- HIP 141105.84
- HIP 186065.85