Star profile
17 Leporis
Variable starWhat is 17 Leporis
17 Leporis, also catalogued as SS Leporis, is one of the best-studied vampire systems: a red giant feeds matter to a blue-white A-type companion, all wrapped in a circumbinary dust disc. Interferometric work with PIONIER on the VLT resolved that dance to a few milli-arcseconds. The combined brightness drifts between magnitude 4.82 and 5.06, some 909 light-years off in Lepus the Hare.
Where it is and when to see it
17 Leporis 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 22° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 33° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 73° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 74° N.
It ranks no. 15 in brightness among the 45 stars of Lepus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Arneb, the brightest: it lies about 8° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 910 years ago.
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Astronomical data for 17 Leporis
- Constellation
- Lepus
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.92
- Distance
- 908.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 91.246° · Dec -16.484°
- Catalogue
- HIP 28816 · HD 41511
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Other stars in Lepus
Lepus has 45 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- ArnebAlpha Leporis2.58
- NihalBeta Leporis2.81
- Epsilon Leporis3.19
- Theta Leporis4.67
- HIP 249274.70
- HIP 233624.91
- HIP 234305.01
- HIP 286755.03