Star profile
HIP 48374
Highly luminous starWhat is HIP 48374
More than a thousand light-years deep into Vela, a yellow giant pours out a luminosity far beyond our own Sun. The beam Hipparcos measured in the nineties departed when the Vikings were founding Dublin and the caliphates were consolidating the Mediterranean. It arrives now like a candle lit centuries ago, still steady, still golden.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 48374 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 culminates about 3° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 77° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 43° N.
It ranks no. 22 in brightness among the 127 stars of Vela in our catalogue. To find it, start from Gamma 2 Velorum, the brightest: it lies about 17° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 1,100 years ago.
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Leave your signature on HIP 48374
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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 48374
- Constellation
- Vela
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.58
- Distance
- 1055.7 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 147.919° · Dec -46.548°
- Catalogue
- HIP 48374 · HD 85622
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 537734.37
- HIP 441914.45
- HIP 506764.50
- HIP 505554.59
- HIP 454484.63