Star profile

Zeta Pyxidis

3D likeness based on its real data · class G · ~5,500 K

What is Zeta Pyxidis

Zeta Pyxidis shines in the small Compass Box, a modern constellation cut out in the eighteenth century by Lacaille in the heart of the old remains of the ship Argo. It is a yellow G-type giant some 244 light-years away, an older sibling of the Sun with several thousand times its approximate volume. Its soft, warm light crosses a region of the sky rarely celebrated yet essential for anyone learning to navigate below the celestial equator, where the Milky Way changes its tone.

Where it is and when to see it

Zeta Pyxidis 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: 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.

Find it on the sky map

It opens in your browser. Free, no account, nothing to install.

The signature wall

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.

A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works

If you don't have an account yet, we'll ask for an email to confirm it's you: we send you a link and that's it, no password.

Write my signature

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 Zeta Pyxidis

Constellation: Pyxis
Apparent magnitude: 4.86
Distance: 244.3 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 129.927° · Dec -29.561°
Catalogue: HIP 42483 · HD 73898

A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.

Other stars in Pyxis

Pyxis has 18 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 18 stars in Pyxis