Star profile
Beta Phoenicis
Highly luminous starWhat is Beta Phoenicis
Beta Phoenicis is a graceful visual binary: two yellow G8III giants so alike they seem to mirror each other, separated by barely an arcsecond and completing a mutual orbit every 170 years on a slightly eccentric path. Its light, travelling from the southern bird of rebirth, requires a substantial telescope to split, and then reveals the subtle contrast of two aged suns shining in unison.
Where it is and when to see it
Beta Phoenicis lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is September: 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 Beta Phoenicis
- Constellation
- Phoenix
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.32
- Distance
- 326200.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 16.521° · Dec -46.718°
- Catalogue
- HIP 5165 · HD 6595
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Phoenix
Phoenix has 39 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AnkaaAlpha Phoenicis2.40
- Gamma Phoenicis3.41
- Epsilon Phoenicis3.88
- Kappa Phoenicis3.93
- Delta Phoenicis3.93
- WurrenZeta Phoenicis3.94
- Eta Phoenicis4.36
- Psi Phoenicis4.39