Star profile
Theta Dorado
What is Theta Dorado
θ Doradus is an orange giant in the constellation of the Goldfish, traced in the 16th century by Dutch navigators charting the southern skies. Its warm light crosses nearly five hundred years of space, traversing the same region of sky that hosts the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way visible to the naked eye from the south.
Where it is and when to see it
Theta Dorado 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 never rises above the horizon.
- From New York it never rises above the horizon.
- From Sydney it never sets and culminates about 57° up.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 23° N.
It ranks no. 7 in brightness among the 18 stars of Dorado in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alpha Dorado, the brightest: it lies about 13° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 490 years ago.
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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 Theta Dorado
- Constellation
- Dorado
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.81
- Distance
- 491.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 78.439° · Dec -67.185°
- Catalogue
- HIP 24372 · HD 34649
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Other stars in Dorado
Dorado has 18 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Dorado3.30
- Beta Dorado3.76
- Gamma Dorado4.26
- Delta Dorado4.34
- HIP 278904.65
- Zeta Dorado4.71
- Eta 2 Dorado5.01
- Nu Dorado5.06