Star profile
Zeta Pictor
What is Zeta Pictor
Zeta Pictoris is an F-type subgiant 117 light-years away, in the small southern constellation of the Painter's Easel, drawn by Lacaille in the eighteenth century. With 1.49 solar masses and 2.3 solar radii, after 2.6 billion years it has begun to leave the main sequence. It shines almost eight times brighter than the Sun and approaches us at 44 km/s — a star caught in its evolutionary hinge, no longer fully young yet not yet a giant.
Where it is and when to see it
Zeta Pictor lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is November, 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 culminates about 73° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 39° N.
It ranks no. 13 in brightness among the 23 stars of Pictor in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alpha Pictor, the brightest: it lies about 17° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 120 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Zeta Pictor
- Constellation
- Pictor
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.44
- Distance
- 116.5 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 79.842° · Dec -50.606°
- Catalogue
- HIP 24829 · HD 35072
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Other stars in Pictor
Pictor has 23 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Pictor3.24
- Beta Pictor3.85
- Gamma Pictor4.50
- Lambda Pictor5.30
- HIP 272435.31
- Eta 1 Pictor5.37
- HIP 257685.46
- Iota Pictor5.58