Star profile
Beta Reticulum
What is Beta Reticulum
Beta Reticuli burns 97 light-years away inside the small diamond of Reticulum, a southern constellation invented in the eighteenth century to honour the telescope's eyepiece grid. It is an orange K-type giant —measured, veteran— having spent the hydrogen of its core and now expanding toward its final chapter. It pairs with a white dwarf, a rare match between an aged giant and a star already collapsed.
Where it is and when to see it
Beta Reticulum 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 never sets and culminates about 59° up.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 25° N.
It ranks no. 2 in brightness among the 16 stars of Reticulum in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alpha Reticulum, the brightest: it lies about 4° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 97 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Beta Reticulum
- Constellation
- Reticulum
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.84
- Distance
- 97.4 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 56.049° · Dec -64.807°
- Catalogue
- HIP 17440 · HD 23817
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Other stars in Reticulum
Reticulum has 16 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Reticulum3.33
- Epsilon Reticulum4.44
- Gamma Reticulum4.48
- Delta Reticulum4.56
- Kappa Reticulum4.71
- Iota Reticulum4.97
- Zeta 2 Reticulum5.24
- Eta Reticulum5.24