
Star profile
Kappa 1 Tauri
What is Kappa 1 Tauri
Kappa-1 Tauri belongs to the Hyades, the open cluster closest to our Solar System, scattered around the face of the Bull. A white A-type star some 154 light-years away, it shares a single galactic drift with its siblings, all born together about 600 million years ago from the same nebula. Under a clean sky the eye picks out its optical pair Kappa-2; through a telescope, both sit within that luminous V the ancient Greeks tied to the daughters of Atlas and to the rains of winter.
Where it is and when to see it
Kappa 1 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, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it culminates about 61° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 72° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 34° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 68° S.
It ranks no. 19 in brightness among the 144 stars of Taurus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Aldebaran, the brightest: it lies about 6° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 150 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Kappa 1 Tauri
- Constellation
- Taurus
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.21
- Distance
- 153.9 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 66.342° · Dec 22.294°
- Catalogue
- HIP 20635 · HD 27934
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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
- Nu Tauri3.91
- 5 Tauri4.14
- Merope4.14
- 88 Tauri4.25
- Mu Tauri4.27