Star profile
Zeta Persei
Hot blue starWhat is Zeta Persei
ζ Persei is a blue supergiant embedded in the Perseus OB2 association, one of the great stellar nurseries of our spiral arm. It burns so bright and so hot that its life will be cosmically brief —only a few million years— before collapsing as a supernova. Its cold, electric light travels from a corner of the sky where entire generations of suns are born and die.
Where it is and when to see it
Zeta Persei 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, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it culminates about 70° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 81° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 24° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 58° S.
It ranks no. 3 in brightness among the 99 stars of Perseus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Mirfak, the brightest: it lies about 19° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 750 years ago.
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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 Zeta Persei
- Constellation
- Perseus
- Apparent magnitude
- 2.84
- Distance
- 751.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 58.533° · Dec 31.884°
- Catalogue
- HIP 18246 · HD 24398
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Other stars in Perseus
Perseus has 99 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- MirfakAlpha Persei1.79
- AlgolBeta Persei2.09
- Epsilon Persei2.90
- Gamma Persei2.91
- Delta Persei3.01
- Rho Persei3.32
- MiramEta Persei3.77
- Nu Persei3.77