Star profile
HIP 42679
Variable starWhat is HIP 42679
This one does not belong to our galaxy. At 326,000 light-years, leaning on the edge of Vela, its light flickers —it is variable— and travelled across intergalactic space throughout the whole of human prehistory. When it set out, the first Homo sapiens had not yet crossed from Africa into Eurasia. A blue-white survivor reaching us as a faint rumour of the deep sky.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 42679 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.
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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
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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 42679
- Constellation
- Vela
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.20
- Distance
- 326200.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 130.487° · Dec -45.411°
- Catalogue
- HIP 42679 · HD 74371
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 425045.18
- HIP 399615.20
- HIP 425405.20
- HIP 399705.23
- HIP 443375.23