Star profile
Chi Carinae
Variable starWhat is Chi Carinae
Chi Carinae is one of the most vital stars in the Keel: a blue subgiant of about seven solar masses, just forty million years old, spinning above one hundred kilometres per second. It was once catalogued as variable, but Hipparcos photometry cleaned its light curve down to a few thousandths of a magnitude. An astrometric companion is still suspected — too discreet to be seen, real enough to bend its path.
Where it is and when to see it
Chi Carinae 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 culminates about 71° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 37° N.
It ranks no. 11 in brightness among the 124 stars of Carina in our catalogue. To find it, start from Canopus, the brightest: it lies about 14° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 460 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Chi Carinae
- Constellation
- Carina
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.46
- Distance
- 455.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 119.195° · Dec -52.982°
- Catalogue
- HIP 38827 · HD 65575
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Other stars in Carina
Carina has 124 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- CanopusAlpha Carinae-0.62
- MiaplacidusBeta Carinae1.67
- AviorEpsilon Carinae1.86
- HIP 515763.30
- HIP 503713.39
- HIP 450803.43
- HIP 478543.69
- HIP 532533.78