Star profile

HIP 31870

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

What is HIP 31870

Canis Major, the great dog that follows the hunter Orion, harbours this orange K-type star. Its light set out around 1786, the year William Herschel published his first catalogue of nebulae and expanded forever the inventory of the deep sky. More than two centuries later, that orange ember crosses the southern firmament and lands on today's detectors.

Where it is and when to see it

HIP 31870 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: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.

Find it on the sky map

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The signature wall

Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.

A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works

If you don't have an account yet, we'll ask for an email to confirm it's you: we send you a link and that's it, no password.

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 HIP 31870

Constellation: Canis Major
Apparent magnitude: 5.70
Distance: 239.3 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 99.928° · Dec -30.470°
Catalogue: HIP 31870 · HD 47946

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

Other stars in Canis Major

Canis Major has 90 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 90 stars in Canis Major