Star profile
Theta Carinae
Hot blue starWhat is Theta Carinae
Theta Carinae is the brightest jewel of IC 2602, the open cluster astronomers call the Southern Pleiades. A hot blue subgiant, far younger than the Sun, it leads its sister stars across the southern sky in a choreography born barely thirty million years ago. Its cold, electric light travels some 455 years to reach us, carrying the reflection of a swarm of freshly kindled stars in the constellation of the Keel.
Where it is and when to see it
Theta Carinae lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is April, 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 60° up.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 26° N.
It ranks no. 5 in brightness among the 124 stars of Carina in our catalogue. To find it, start from Canopus, the brightest: it lies about 34° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 460 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Theta Carinae
- Constellation
- Carina
- Apparent magnitude
- 2.74
- Distance
- 455.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 160.739° · Dec -64.394°
- Catalogue
- HIP 52419 · HD 93030
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Other stars in Carina
Carina has 124 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- CanopusAlpha Carinae-0.62
- MiaplacidusBeta Carinae1.67
- AviorEpsilon Carinae1.86
- AspidiskeIota Carinae2.21
- Upsilon Carinae2.92
- Omega Carinae3.29
- HIP 515763.30
- HIP 503713.39