Star profile
Psi Velorum
What is Psi Velorum
Psi Velorum is a tightly bound pair: two yellow-white F-type stars circling a common centre every 34 years, close enough that resolving them needs a careful telescope. At 61 light-years it is one of the nearest naked-eye binaries in the southern sky, set within the hull of the old ship Argo. The dance traced today is the same rhythm decoded by twentieth-century astronomy.
Where it is and when to see it
Psi Velorum lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is March: 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 Psi Velorum
- Constellation
- Vela
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.60
- Distance
- 61.4 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 142.675° · Dec -40.467°
- Catalogue
- HIP 46651 · HD 82434
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 467013.16
- Phi Velorum3.52
- Omicron Velorum3.60
- HIP 445113.75
- HIP 425703.77