
Star profile
Gamma Pyxidis
What is Gamma Pyxidis
Gamma Pyxidis is the steadiest orange light in the Mariner's Compass: a K3 giant of the «red clump», where old stars burn helium at a precise point on the stellar diagram. About four billion years old, 22 solar radii across and nearly 180 times brighter than the Sun, at 207 light-years it tints a quiet corner of the southern sky in copper. Its chemistry, oddly enough, is still almost a twin of the Sun's.
Where it is and when to see it
Gamma 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.
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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 Gamma Pyxidis
- Constellation
- Pyxis
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.02
- Distance
- 207.4 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 132.633° · Dec -27.710°
- Catalogue
- HIP 43409 · HD 75691
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.
- Alpha Pyxidis3.68
- Beta Pyxidis3.97
- Kappa Pyxidis4.62
- Theta Pyxidis4.71
- Lambda Pyxidis4.71
- Zeta Pyxidis4.86
- Delta Pyxidis4.87
- HIP 424305.05