Star profile

Chi 2 Fornax

3D likeness based on its real data · class K · ~4,200 K

What is Chi 2 Fornax

Chi-2 Fornacis is an old orange K2 giant of the old galactic disk, twenty-three times the Sun's radius and nearly two hundred times its luminosity. She lives in Fornax, the Chemical Furnace, another constellation Lacaille invented in honour of the laboratory instrument. At 455 light-years she shines discreetly, almost at the edge of naked-eye visibility, like an ember forgotten in the embers of a furnace long gone out.

Where it is and when to see it

Chi 2 Fornax 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 3° above the horizon.
From New York it culminates about 14° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 88° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere south of 54° N.

It ranks no. 15 in brightness among the 26 stars of Fornax in our catalogue. To find it, start from Dalim, the brightest: it lies about 7° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 460 years ago.

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Astronomical data for Chi 2 Fornax

Constellation: Fornax
Apparent magnitude: 5.71
Distance: 455.0 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 51.889° · Dec -35.681°
Catalogue: HIP 16112 · HD 21574

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Other stars in Fornax

Fornax has 26 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 26 stars in Fornax