Star profile
Alpha Camelopardalis
Hot blue starWhat is Alpha Camelopardalis
Alpha Camelopardalis is a colossal blue supergiant, one of the most luminous stars known in the Milky Way, whose light takes thousands of years to reach us. It is also a famous runaway: it sweeps through space so fast that it pushes a glowing bow shock of gas ahead of itself, captured by the WISE space telescope. It long ago left the cluster where it was born and now crosses the Giraffe alone.
Where it is and when to see it
Alpha Camelopardalis lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is December: 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 Camelopardalis
- Constellation
- Camelopardalis
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.26
- Distance
- 326200.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 73.513° · Dec 66.343°
- Catalogue
- HIP 22783 · HD 30614
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Camelopardalis
Camelopardalis has 75 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Beta Camelopardalis4.03
- HIP 162284.21
- HIP 178844.39
- 7 Camelopardalis4.43
- HIP 162814.55
- HIP 336944.55
- Gamma Camelopardalis4.59
- HIP 155204.74