Star profile
Iota Chamaeleon
Southern polar starWhat is Iota Chamaeleon
Iota Chamaeleontis is a yellow-white F-type star in Chamaeleon, in the deep south near the celestial pole. At about 188 light-years, it radiates twenty times the Sun's light from a surface at 6,429 K. Its most singular feature is invisible to the eye: an infrared excess betrays a disc of dust orbiting at some eight astronomical units, at 200 K — a possible scene of planet formation.
Where it is and when to see it
Iota Chamaeleon lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is May: 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 Iota Chamaeleon
- Constellation
- Chamaeleon
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.34
- Distance
- 189.7 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 141.040° · Dec -80.787°
- Catalogue
- HIP 46107 · HD 82554
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Chamaeleon
Chamaeleon has 19 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Chamaeleon4.05
- Gamma Chamaeleon4.11
- Beta Chamaeleon4.24
- Epsilon Chamaeleon4.88
- Kappa Chamaeleon5.04
- Zeta Chamaeleon5.07
- Nu Chamaeleon5.43
- Eta Chamaeleon5.46