Star profile
Alpha Reticulum
What is Alpha Reticulum
Alpha Reticuli is the brightest star in a discreet southern constellation, named in the late 18th century in honour of the telescope's reticle. Some 162 light-years away, this G-type giant pours out a yellow light reminiscent of an aged Sun, expanded and slowly cooling after leaving its main-sequence youth behind.
Where it is and when to see it
Alpha 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 October: 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 Alpha Reticulum
- Constellation
- Reticulum
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.33
- Distance
- 161.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 63.606° · Dec -62.474°
- Catalogue
- HIP 19780 · HD 27256
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Reticulum
Reticulum has 16 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Beta Reticulum3.84
- Epsilon Reticulum4.44
- Gamma Reticulum4.48
- Delta Reticulum4.56
- Kappa Reticulum4.71
- Iota Reticulum4.97
- Zeta 2 Reticulum5.24
- Eta Reticulum5.24