Star profile

Rho Fornax

3D likeness based on its real data · class G · ~5,500 K

What is Rho Fornax

Rho Fornacis is a thick-disk star, a rarity among those the eye can still reach. Like Arcturus, it travels the galaxy on a markedly eccentric orbit, the legacy of an origin foreign to the main plane. It is a yellow-orange giant 269 light-years away, with an iron content below half the solar abundance: a chemical witness to an earlier era, formed when the universe was still poor in heavy metals.

Where it is and when to see it

Rho 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 November, when it culminates around midnight.

From London it culminates about 8° above the horizon.
From New York it culminates about 19° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 86° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere south of 60° N.

It ranks no. 12 in brightness among the 26 stars of Fornax in our catalogue. To find it, start from Dalim, the brightest: it lies about 8° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 270 years ago.

Find it on the sky map

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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 Rho Fornax

Constellation: Fornax
Apparent magnitude: 5.52
Distance: 268.9 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 56.983° · Dec -30.168°
Catalogue: HIP 17738 · HD 23940

A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.

Other stars in Fornax

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

See all 26 stars in Fornax