Star profile
Theta Volans
What is Theta Volans
Theta Volantis is a white main-sequence star 240 light-years away, in the southern constellation of the Flying Fish — drawn by Dutch navigators who watched shoals of fish leap above the Indian Ocean. It is a visual double, separable in small telescopes, a faint companion splitting what seems to the eye a single light. It shines with forty-four times the Sun's luminosity, far from the more travelled paths of the sky.
Where it is and when to see it
Theta Volans lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is April, 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 never sets and culminates about 54° up.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 20° N.
It ranks no. 9 in brightness among the 19 stars of Volans in our catalogue. To find it, start from Beta Volans, the brightest: it lies about 4° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 240 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Theta Volans
- Constellation
- Volans
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.19
- Distance
- 240.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 129.771° · Dec -70.387°
- Catalogue
- HIP 42425 · HD 74405
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Other stars in Volans
Volans has 19 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Beta Volans3.77
- Gamma 2 Volans3.78
- Zeta Volans3.93
- Epsilon Volans4.35
- HIP 406805.06
- HIP 336825.18
- Eta Volans5.28
- Kappa 1 Volans5.33