Star profile
Delta Dorado
What is Delta Dorado
Delta Doradus plays a little-known role: every 18.6 years it becomes the Moon's pole star. When its turn comes, it aligns with the lunar rotation axis even more precisely than our own Polaris, though it is much fainter. It is a white A7-type star 150 light-years away, in the southern constellation of the Goldfish, close on the sky to the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Where it is and when to see it
Delta 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 October, 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 58° up.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 24° N.
It ranks no. 4 in brightness among the 18 stars of Dorado in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alpha Dorado, the brightest: it lies about 14° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 150 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 Delta Dorado
- Constellation
- Dorado
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.34
- Distance
- 149.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 86.193° · Dec -65.736°
- Catalogue
- HIP 27100 · HD 39014
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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
- HIP 278904.65
- Zeta Dorado4.71
- Theta Dorado4.81
- Eta 2 Dorado5.01
- Nu Dorado5.06