Star profile
Rana
Delta Eridani · Eridanus
Variable starWhat is Rana
Rana is a very close neighbour, just 29 light-years away, along the long meander of the celestial river Eridanus. Its name, Latin for «the frog», comes from Bayer's translation of an archaic Arabic astronomical term. It is an orange K-type giant, slightly variable, that has already exhausted the hydrogen in its core: a miniature preview of the fate awaiting the Sun in five billion years' time. The light visible tonight left it before the Berlin Wall came down.
Where it is and when to see it
Rana lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is November: 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 Rana
- Constellation
- Eridanus
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.52
- Distance
- 29.5 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 55.812° · Dec -9.763°
- Catalogue
- HIP 17378 · HD 23249
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
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
- ZaurakGamma Eridani2.97
- Upsilon 4 Eridani3.55
- Phi Eridani3.56
- Chi Eridani3.69
- Tau 4 Eridani3.70