Star profile
Zeta Mensa
Southern polar starWhat is Zeta Mensa
Zeta Mensae lives in Mensa, the only constellation named after a feature of the Earth: South Africa's Table Mountain, from where Lacaille charted the southern sky in the eighteenth century. It is a white giant spinning at 200 km/s, fast enough to flatten it into an oblate shape some 26 percent wider at its equator than at its poles. It shines at 414 light-years, almost touching the south celestial pole.
Where it is and when to see it
Zeta Mensa lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is June: 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.
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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
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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 Zeta Mensa
- Constellation
- Mensa
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.61
- Distance
- 414.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 100.012° · Dec -80.814°
- Catalogue
- HIP 31897 · HD 50506
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Mensa
Mensa has 15 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Mensa5.08
- Gamma Mensa5.18
- Beta Mensa5.30
- Eta Mensa5.47
- Mu Mensa5.53
- Epsilon Mensa5.54
- Pi Mensa5.65
- Delta Mensa5.67