Skip to main content
Stelvia
Back to the selector

Star profile

Cih

Gamma Cassiopeiae · Cassiopeia

Variable star
3D likeness based on its real data · class B · ~15,000 K

What is Cih

Cih, gamma Cassiopeiae, is a blue variable star pulsing at the centre of the celestial W, one of the most recognisable silhouettes of the northern hemisphere. Her brightness shifts unpredictably through eruptive episodes in her equatorial gas disk. Her light, launched 549 years ago in the era of Joan of Arc, embodies the restlessness of Queen Cassiopeia chained eternally to her cosmic throne.

Where it is and when to see it

Cih lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is November: 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.

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 Cih

Constellation
Cassiopeia
Apparent magnitude
2.15
Distance
549.2 light years
Coordinates (J2000)
RA 14.177° · Dec 60.717°
Catalogue
HIP 4427 · HD 5394

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

Other stars in Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia has 93 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 93 stars in Cassiopeia