Star profile

27 Cancri

Variable star

3D likeness based on its real data · class M · ~3,200 K

What is 27 Cancri

27 Cancri is an M-type red giant whose brightness does not hold steady: it oscillates slowly, a pulsation characteristic of aged stars that have already left the main sequence. Its light crossed some nine hundred light-years to reach us, departing in the early medieval era. It dwells in Cancer, a modest but historic zodiacal constellation that the Sun crosses each northern summer and which held the solstice in antiquity.

Where it is and when to see it

27 Cancri 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 culminates about 51° above the horizon.
From New York it culminates about 62° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 43° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere north of 77° S.

It ranks no. 24 in brightness among the 49 stars of Cancer in our catalogue. To find it, start from Tarf, the brightest: it lies about 4° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 900 years ago.

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Astronomical data for 27 Cancri

Constellation: Cancer
Apparent magnitude: 5.56
Distance: 901.1 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 126.683° · Dec 12.655°
Catalogue: HIP 41400 · HD 71250

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Other stars in Cancer

Cancer has 49 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 49 stars in Cancer