Star profile
18 Lynx
What is 18 Lynx
18 Lyncis glides across the silent figure of Lynx, a constellation so faint that its creator, Hevelius, declared that only someone with the eyes of a lynx could find it. It is an orange K-type star, a giant in slow cooling, whose golden light reaches Earth after travelling around one hundred and ninety-nine years. Its warm tone contrasts with the near-empty sky that surrounds the constellation.
Where it is and when to see it
18 Lynx lies in the northern 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 sets and culminates about 82° up.
- From New York it never sets and culminates about 71° up.
- From Sydney it never rises above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 30° S.
It ranks no. 18 in brightness among the 60 stars of Lynx in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alpha Lynx, the brightest: it lies about 32° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 200 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 18 Lynx
- Constellation
- Lynx
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.20
- Distance
- 199.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 108.979° · Dec 59.637°
- Catalogue
- HIP 35146 · HD 55280
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Other stars in Lynx
Lynx has 60 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
See all 60 stars in Lynx