Star profile
42 Orionis
Hot blue starWhat is 42 Orionis
42 Orionis burns as a blue beacon on the bright northern shoulder of Orion, not far from the Orion Nebula and the great star-forming complexes that dominate the region. Its B classification places it among the hottest stars accessible to the unaided eye, with a surface comfortably above ten thousand degrees. Its light crosses some eight hundred and eighty-four years of vacuum before igniting on a human retina.
Where it is and when to see it
42 Orionis lies in the southern 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 42 Orionis
- Constellation
- Orion
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.58
- Distance
- 884.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 83.847° · Dec -4.838°
- Catalogue
- HIP 26237 · HD 37018
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Orion
Orion has 128 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- RigelBeta Orionis0.18
- BetelgeuseAlpha Orionis0.45
- BellatrixGamma Orionis1.64
- Pi 6 Orionis4.47
- Omega Orionis4.50
- HIP 284134.53
- Psi 2 Orionis4.59
- Upsilon Orionis4.62