Star profile
HIP 45448
What is HIP 45448
Cutting through the austral south in the constellation Vela, this F-type luminary shines a barely gilded white, somewhat hotter than our own Sun. Its photons set out around 1861, mid-American Civil War, when no telescope in the northern hemisphere could resolve it in detail. It belongs to that strip of stars that prefigure dawns: pale, serene, free of any stridency.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 45448 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, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it culminates about 1° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 12° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 86° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 53° N.
It ranks no. 24 in brightness among the 127 stars of Vela in our catalogue. To find it, start from Gamma 2 Velorum, the brightest: it lies about 16° 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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Leave your signature on HIP 45448
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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 45448
- Constellation
- Vela
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.63
- Distance
- 164.7 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 138.938° · Dec -37.413°
- Catalogue
- HIP 45448 · HD 79940
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 506764.50
- HIP 483744.58
- HIP 505554.59
- HYG 1186324.65
- HIP 438784.68