Star profile

Eta Sculptor

Variable star

3D likeness based on its real data · class M · ~3,200 K

What is Eta Sculptor

Eta Sculptoris is a red giant of type M2 in the quiet Sculptor: nearly eighty times the Sun's radius and a thousand times its luminosity, with a surface so cool it barely reaches 3,000 K. It pulses as a semiregular variable with interlaced periods of 22, 47 and up to 158 days, drifting gently between magnitudes 4.80 and 4.90. An old age stretched out and luminous, seen at 452 light-years.

Where it is and when to see it

Eta Sculptor lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is September, when it culminates around midnight.

From London it culminates about 5° above the horizon.
From New York it culminates about 16° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 89° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere south of 57° N.

It ranks no. 5 in brightness among the 33 stars of Sculptor in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alpha Sculptor, the brightest: it lies about 8° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 450 years ago.

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Astronomical data for Eta Sculptor

Constellation: Sculptor
Apparent magnitude: 4.86
Distance: 451.8 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 6.982° · Dec -33.007°
Catalogue: HIP 2210 · HD 2429

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Other stars in Sculptor

Sculptor has 33 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 33 stars in Sculptor