Star profile
56 Eridani
Variable starWhat is 56 Eridani
56 Eridani is a B-type variable star set within the long course of the river Eridanus. Its hot, blue-tinted atmosphere modulates its brightness near magnitude 5.78, a quiet pulsation only photometric monitoring reveals with clarity. Eridanus winds from the feet of Orion toward southern horizons, and this blue variable adds another restless flicker to a river of stars that ancient myth imagined as an eternal flow.
Where it is and when to see it
56 Eridani lies in the southern 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 30° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 41° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 65° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 81° N.
It ranks no. 104 in brightness among the 129 stars of Eridanus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Achernar, the brightest: it lies about 61° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 330,000 years ago.
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Astronomical data for 56 Eridani
- Constellation
- Eridanus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.78
- Distance
- 326200.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 71.022° · Dec -8.504°
- Catalogue
- HIP 22024 · HD 30076
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Other stars in Eridanus
Eridanus has 129 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AchernarAlpha Eridani0.45
- CursaBeta Eridani2.78
- AcamarTheta 1 Eridani2.88
- 59 Eridani5.76
- p Eridani5.76
- HIP 223365.77
- p Eridani5.80
- HIP 195715.80