Star profile
Pi Puppis
Variable starWhat is Pi Puppis
Pi Puppis is an orange supergiant that pulses gently in the stern of the old ship Argo, more than eight hundred light-years away. It anchors a young open cluster known as Collinder 135, a handful of sibling stars born from the same cloud of gas. The light reaching us now departed when Gothic cathedrals were first being raised in Europe, arriving as a slow heartbeat that betrays the star's vast age.
Where it is and when to see it
Pi 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 culminates about 1° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 12° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 87° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 53° N.
It ranks no. 2 in brightness among the 145 stars of Puppis in our catalogue. To find it, start from Naos, the brightest: it lies about 10° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 810 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Pi Puppis
- Constellation
- Puppis
- Apparent magnitude
- 2.71
- Distance
- 807.4 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 109.286° · Dec -37.097°
- Catalogue
- HIP 35264 · HD 56855
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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
- TureisRho Puppis2.83
- Tau Puppis2.94
- Nu Puppis3.17
- Sigma Puppis3.25
- AzmidiXi Puppis3.34
- HIP 378193.62
- HIP 384143.71