Star profile
56 Tauri
Variable starWhat is 56 Tauri
56 Tauri sits within the Bull, some 326 light-years out, in a region dominated by the Pleiades and the Hyades. It is a white A-type variable star, its brightness shifting subtly to the rhythm of inner pulsations. The light reaching you tonight set out in the early 18th century —almost the moment Flamsteed himself was delivering his definitive catalogue to the world.
Where it is and when to see it
56 Tauri 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.
It opens in your browser. Free, no account, nothing to install.
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
If you don't have an account yet, we'll ask for an email to confirm it's you: we send you a link and that's it, no password.
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 56 Tauri
- Constellation
- Taurus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.34
- Distance
- 326.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 64.903° · Dec 21.773°
- Catalogue
- HIP 20186 · HD 27309
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
- 40 Tauri5.32
- HIP 215155.32
- 29 Tauri5.34
- HIP 189935.36
- 121 Tauri5.37