Star profile
HIP 51502
Northern polar starWhat is HIP 51502
In Camelopardalis, very near the celestial north pole where stars trace endless circles, lives an F-type yellow-white star. Its light crossed seventy years of darkness: it set out when the twentieth century was deep in the Cold War and humanity had not yet seen the whole Earth from outside. Slightly hotter than the Sun, it glows with the tone of a clean wax candle. Because of its near-polar position, it wheels in silence without ever leaving the horizon, watchful through the entire night.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 51502 lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is January: 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 HIP 51502
- Constellation
- Camelopardalis
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.25
- Distance
- 70.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 157.771° · Dec 82.559°
- Catalogue
- HIP 51502 · HD 90089
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Camelopardalis
Camelopardalis has 75 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Beta Camelopardalis4.03
- HIP 162284.21
- Alpha Camelopardalis4.26
- 31 Camelopardalis5.20
- 11 Camelopardalis5.22
- 16 Camelopardalis5.24
- HIP 202665.26
- 4 Camelopardalis5.29