Star profile

Zeta Octans

Southern polar star

3D likeness based on its real data · class F · ~6,500 K

What is Zeta Octans

Zeta Octantis is a yellow-white F0 giant with poor metallicity, only 44% of the Sun's heavy elements, an inheritance from its 1.25-billion-year age. 162 light-years away, it circles silently around the south celestial pole, that lonely region of the sky lacking a bright pole star like the north's. There, where Earth's rotation traces tiny circles, it joins the slow austral spin.

Where it is and when to see it

Zeta Octans lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is June, 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 38° up.

It can be seen from anywhere south of 4° N.

It ranks no. 12 in brightness among the 35 stars of Octans in our catalogue. To find it, start from Nu Octans, the brightest: it lies about 17° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 160 years ago.

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Astronomical data for Zeta Octans

Constellation: Octans
Apparent magnitude: 5.43
Distance: 162.3 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 134.174° · Dec -85.663°
Catalogue: HIP 43908 · HD 79837

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Other stars in Octans

Octans has 35 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 35 stars in Octans