Star profile
Alpha Dorado
Variable starWhat is Alpha Dorado
Alpha Doradus reigns as the brightest jewel of Dorado, a southern constellation that frames the Large Magellanic Cloud just a degree away. At 169 light-years, it is a blue-white giant of type A, faintly variable, with a close companion detected by interferometry whose orbit closes in barely a dozen years. Its young, hot light has long served those who steer by southern skies.
Where it is and when to see it
Alpha Dorado 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 Dorado
- Constellation
- Dorado
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.30
- Distance
- 168.7 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 68.499° · Dec -55.045°
- Catalogue
- HIP 21281 · HD 29305
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Dorado
Dorado has 18 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Beta Dorado3.76
- Gamma Dorado4.26
- Delta Dorado4.34
- HIP 278904.65
- Zeta Dorado4.71
- Theta Dorado4.81
- Eta 2 Dorado5.01
- Nu Dorado5.06