Star profile
HIP 42177
Variable starWhat is HIP 42177
A blue-white variable stitched to Vela, the sail of the Argo. Its brightness is not stable: it shifts to a rhythm of its own, only visible in long photometric series. The light gathered by the camera tonight set out around 1579, when Francis Drake was circumnavigating the globe aboard the Golden Hind. B-class, scorching surface above ten thousand degrees, an accelerated stellar life under the weight of its own mass.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 42177 lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is March: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.
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Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.
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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 HIP 42177
- Constellation
- Vela
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.79
- Distance
- 446.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 128.967° · Dec -50.970°
- Catalogue
- HIP 42177 · HD 73340
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Vela
Vela has 127 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Gamma 2 Velorum1.75
- AlsephinaDelta Velorum1.93
- SuhailLambda Velorum2.23
- HIP 401555.77
- HIP 451225.78
- HIP 500785.78
- HIP 436035.79
- HIP 504935.80