Star profile
12 Ceti
Cool red starWhat is 12 Ceti
12 Ceti is a cool red M-type giant 567 light-years away in the Whale, that vast autumn-sky constellation. It belongs to the family of wide, lukewarm suns whose light carries the hue of mature copper. Its radiation set out in the High Middle Ages and now slips into modern telescopes, in a sky region where Mira Ceti once taught humanity what a variable star truly was.
Where it is and when to see it
12 Ceti 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 35° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 45° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 60° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 86° N.
It ranks no. 79 in brightness among the 111 stars of Cetus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Diphda, the brightest: it lies about 14° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 570 years ago.
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Astronomical data for 12 Ceti
- Constellation
- Cetus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.72
- Distance
- 567.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 7.510° · Dec -3.957°
- Catalogue
- HIP 2353 · HD 2637
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Other stars in Cetus
Cetus has 111 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- DiphdaBeta Ceti2.04
- MenkarAlpha Ceti2.54
- Eta Ceti3.46
- 38 Ceti5.70
- 30 Ceti5.71
- 84 Ceti5.72
- 77 Ceti5.74
- HIP 72765.75