Star profile

Wazn

Beta Columbae · Columba

3D likeness based on its real data · class K · ~4,200 K

What is Wazn

Wazn flies in Columba, the small dove that seventeenth-century cartographers carved out of the southern sky in memory of Noah's dove. Its Arabic name means «weight» and originally referred to another star in the firmament. An orange K-class giant 87 light years away, it lies close enough that its light reaches Earth's observatories in less than a century.

Where it is and when to see it

Wazn 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 3° above the horizon.
From New York it culminates about 14° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 88° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere south of 54° N.

It ranks no. 2 in brightness among the 45 stars of Columba in our catalogue. To find it, start from Phact, the brightest: it lies about 3° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 87 years ago.

Find it on the sky map

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Leave your signature on Wazn

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Write my signature

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 Wazn

Constellation: Columba
Apparent magnitude: 3.12
Distance: 87.2 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 87.740° · Dec -35.768°
Catalogue: HIP 27628 · HD 39425

A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.

Other stars in Columba

Columba has 45 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 45 stars in Columba