Star profile
Alpha Pictor
What is Alpha Pictor
It marks the apex of Pictor, the small constellation of the Painter's Easel sketched by the abbé Lacaille beneath Cape Town's skies in the 18th century. A blue-white subgiant spinning on its axis at more than 200 km/s, its dizzying rotation places it in a rare family — the Lambda Boötis stars — whose atmospheres show an anomalous scarcity of calcium and other metals. Roughly 97 light-years away, it shines with the force of forty suns from a furnace of 7,500 degrees.
Where it is and when to see it
Alpha Pictor lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is February, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never rises above the horizon.
- From New York it never rises above the horizon.
- From Sydney it never sets and culminates about 62° up.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 28° N.
It is the brightest of the 23 stars of Pictor in our catalogue, which makes it the best starting point for finding your way around the constellation.
The light you see today left it about 97 years ago.
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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 Alpha Pictor
- Constellation
- Pictor
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.24
- Distance
- 96.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 102.048° · Dec -61.941°
- Catalogue
- HIP 32607 · HD 50241
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Other stars in Pictor
Pictor has 23 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Beta Pictor3.85
- Gamma Pictor4.50
- Delta Pictor4.72
- HIP 289915.04
- Eta 2 Pictor5.05
- HIP 276215.16
- HIP 309325.20
- HIP 279475.29