Star profile
Alpha Sculptor
Variable starWhat is Alpha Sculptor
α Sculptoris is a distant blue giant lying more than seven hundred light-years away, in a discreet constellation traced by Lacaille in the 18th century to honour the sculptor's workshop. Its brightness varies slightly, a sign of instabilities in its massive outer layers. Though it is the alpha star of its constellation, it shares the sky with a dark, clean background ideal for hunting very distant galaxies.
Where it is and when to see it
Alpha Sculptor lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is September: 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 Alpha Sculptor
- Constellation
- Sculptor
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.30
- Distance
- 776.7 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 14.651° · Dec -29.357°
- Catalogue
- HIP 4577 · HD 5737
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Sculptor
Sculptor has 33 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Beta Sculptor4.38
- Gamma Sculptor4.41
- Delta Sculptor4.59
- Eta Sculptor4.86
- Zeta Sculptor5.04
- Iota Sculptor5.18
- Theta Sculptor5.24
- Pi Sculptor5.25