Star profile
Haedus
Eta Aurigae · Auriga
Hot blue starWhat is Haedus
Haedus, paired with its sister Haedi, represents in Latin the kids that the Goat — Capella — suckles without rest in the constellation Auriga. It burns with a fierce blue heat 243 light-years from the Earth, a nervous, young light in cosmic terms. To the Roman sailors of the Mediterranean, the kids' nightly rising at the start of autumn unfailingly heralded the first storms of the year and meant pulling in the sails and beaching the ships before the sea closed entirely until the following spring season returned.
Where it is and when to see it
Haedus 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, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never sets and culminates about 80° up.
- From New York it culminates about 89° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 15° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 49° S.
It ranks no. 7 in brightness among the 76 stars of Auriga in our catalogue. To find it, start from Capella, the brightest: it lies about 5° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 240 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Haedus
- Constellation
- Auriga
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.18
- Distance
- 243.4 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 76.629° · Dec 41.234°
- Catalogue
- HIP 23767 · HD 32630
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Other stars in Auriga
Auriga has 76 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- CapellaAlpha Aurigae0.08
- HYG 1183600.96
- MenkalinanBeta Aurigae1.90
- MahasimTheta Aurigae2.65
- HassalehIota Aurigae2.69
- AlmaazEpsilon Aurigae3.03
- SaclateniZeta Aurigae3.69
- Delta Aurigae3.72