Star profile
HIP 518
Variable starWhat is HIP 518
In the W of Cassiopeia pulses a yellow G-type star, almost a solar neighbor at about 70 light-years. Its light set out around 1956, the year Sputnik had yet to launch but Elvis's first LP was rolling off the presses and opening another era. It is variable: its brightness does not hold steady, but breathes slowly, as if it had a heartbeat of its own.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 518 lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is October: 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 518
- Constellation
- Cassiopeia
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.98
- Distance
- 70.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 1.565° · Dec 58.437°
- Catalogue
- HIP 518 · HD 123
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Cassiopeia
Cassiopeia has 93 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- CihGamma Cassiopeiae2.15
- SchedarAlpha Cassiopeiae2.24
- CaphBeta Cassiopeiae2.28
- HIP 23775.94
- HIP 128215.95
- HIP 45725.97
- HIP 49985.99
- 52 Cassiopeiae6.00