Star profile
Nu Puppis
Hot blue starWhat is Nu Puppis
Nu Puppis is a blue giant of the Stern, seen edge-on: it spins so fast —225 km per second at the equator— that it has flattened into an oblique disc and dragged a faint ring of hot gas around itself. Quasi-emission peaks in its spectral lines mark the signature of a Be shell star viewed in profile. At nearly 372 light-years, it shines with the light of some 1,300 suns from a surface at 12,000 K.
Where it is and when to see it
Nu Puppis lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is January, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never rises above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 6° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 81° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 47° N.
It ranks no. 5 in brightness among the 145 stars of Puppis in our catalogue. To find it, start from Naos, the brightest: it lies about 16° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 370 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Nu Puppis
- Constellation
- Puppis
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.17
- Distance
- 371.5 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 99.440° · Dec -43.196°
- Catalogue
- HIP 31685 · HD 47670
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Other stars in Puppis
Puppis has 145 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- NaosZeta Puppis2.21
- Pi Puppis2.71
- TureisRho Puppis2.83
- Tau Puppis2.94
- Sigma Puppis3.25
- AzmidiXi Puppis3.34
- HIP 378193.62
- HIP 384143.71