Star profile
Nu 2 Columbae
What is Nu 2 Columbae
Nu-2 Columbae inhabits the Dove, a modern constellation created in the sixteenth century by the astronomer Petrus Plancius to represent the bird Noah released from the ark after the flood. It is a yellowish-white F-type star 133 light-years away, young and clear, lying south of the Hare and Orion. Its discreet brightness barely reaches the limit of comfortable naked-eye vision, a delicate light in a late constellation that never entered the classical sky of Ptolemy.
Where it is and when to see it
Nu 2 Columbae 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, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it culminates about 10° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 21° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 85° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 61° N.
It ranks no. 14 in brightness among the 45 stars of Columba in our catalogue. To find it, start from Phact, the brightest: it lies about 5° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 130 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Nu 2 Columbae
- Constellation
- Columba
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.28
- Distance
- 133.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 84.436° · Dec -28.690°
- Catalogue
- HIP 26460 · HD 37495
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Other stars in Columba
Columba has 45 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- PhactAlpha Columbae2.65
- WaznBeta Columbae3.12
- Delta Columbae3.85
- ElkurudTheta Columbae5.00
- Mu Columbae5.18
- HIP 311655.25
- HIP 268685.29
- HIP 312995.42