Star profile
HIP 46701
Variable starWhat is HIP 46701
Orange, slow, blinking. This K-type giant rests in the keel of Vela, where its brightness shifts night after night following an internal pulse astronomers still chart. The light reaching the telescope tonight set out around 1786, while Mozart premiered «The Marriage of Figaro» in Vienna. Two hundred and thirty-nine years of travel for a warm flicker barely visible to the naked eye in the southern sky.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 46701 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, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never rises above the horizon.
- From New York it never rises above the horizon.
- From Sydney it never sets and culminates about 67° up.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 33° N.
It ranks no. 6 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 240 years ago.
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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 46701
- Constellation
- Vela
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.16
- Distance
- 239.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 142.806° · Dec -57.034°
- Catalogue
- HIP 46701 · HD 82668
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
- MarkebKappa Velorum2.47
- Mu Velorum2.69
- Phi Velorum3.52
- Omicron Velorum3.60
- Psi Velorum3.60