Star profile
Gamma Monocerotis
What is Gamma Monocerotis
Gamma Monocerotis is an orange K-type giant some 498 light-years away, wandering through Monoceros —a late, modest constellation traced in the seventeenth century alongside the winter Milky Way—. Its warm hue stands out against the dust of blue suns that surround it in that stretch of sky, a backdrop dominated by hot young stars tied to the great molecular clouds of Orion. To look at Gamma Monocerotis is to glimpse a calm veteran among burning adolescents, all distant neighbours within the same spiral arm.
Where it is and when to see it
Gamma Monocerotis 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 32° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 43° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 62° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 84° N.
It ranks no. 3 in brightness among the 71 stars of Monoceros in our catalogue. To find it, start from Beta Monocerotis, the brightest: it lies about 4° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 500 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Gamma Monocerotis
- Constellation
- Monoceros
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.99
- Distance
- 498.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 93.714° · Dec -6.275°
- Catalogue
- HIP 29651 · HD 43232
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Other stars in Monoceros
Monoceros has 71 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Beta Monocerotis3.76
- Alpha Monocerotis3.94
- Delta Monocerotis4.15
- Zeta Monocerotis4.36
- Epsilon Monocerotis4.39
- 13 Monocerotis4.47
- 18 Monocerotis4.48
- 15 Monocerotis4.66