Star profile
Asterope
21 Tauri · Taurus
Hot blue starWhat is Asterope
Asterope is another of the Pleiades sisters, a hot blue star that yields its glow only to patient eyes on a moonless night. In Greek myth, the Pleiades were the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione pursued by Orion, and Asterope — «the star-faced one» — is among the most elusive. At 372 light-years, it pulses with that youthful white light of stars that have not yet lived even a small fraction of their lives.
Where it is and when to see it
Asterope lies in the northern 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 Asterope
- Constellation
- Taurus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.76
- Distance
- 371.9 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 56.477° · Dec 24.555°
- Catalogue
- HIP 17579 · HD 23432
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Taurus
Taurus has 144 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AldebaranAlpha Tauri0.87
- ElnathBeta Tauri1.65
- AlcyoneEta Tauri2.85
- 131 Tauri5.72
- HIP 218195.73
- 6 Tauri5.76
- HIP 202685.76
- 117 Tauri5.77