Star profile
Phi 3 Ceti
What is Phi 3 Ceti
Phi-3 Ceti glows with an orange light in the Whale, that long amphibious figure winding beneath Pisces and Aries. It is a K-type giant some 551 light-years away, already in an advanced stage of life: its core hydrogen is exhausted, and its cool atmosphere radiates the quiet copper tone typical of aging stars. The light reaching us tonight set out toward the end of the fifteenth century, in the years when the first European caravels were crossing an Atlantic still lacking accurate charts.
Where it is and when to see it
Phi 3 Ceti lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is October: 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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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 Phi 3 Ceti
- Constellation
- Cetus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.35
- Distance
- 551.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 14.006° · Dec -11.267°
- Catalogue
- HIP 4371 · HD 5437
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Other stars in Cetus
Cetus has 111 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- DiphdaBeta Ceti2.04
- MenkarAlpha Ceti2.54
- Eta Ceti3.46
- HIP 117385.27
- 69 Ceti5.29
- HIP 9835.29
- 75 Ceti5.36
- HIP 82305.37