Star profile
Mu Velorum
What is Mu Velorum
Mu Velorum shines in the Sail of the ancient ship Argo, some 117 light-years from Earth. It is a yellow G-type giant, an older sibling of the Sun that has already burned through its core hydrogen and swollen into a far brighter ember. Its calm golden light, easy on the eye and crisp in binoculars, hints at what awaits our own star billions of years from now: a slow, dignified twilight drifting through the winds of the southern sky.
Where it is and when to see it
Mu Velorum 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 never rises above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 74° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 41° N.
It ranks no. 5 in brightness among the 127 stars of Vela in our catalogue. To find it, start from Gamma 2 Velorum, the brightest: it lies about 26° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 120 years ago.
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Leave your signature on Mu Velorum
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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 Mu Velorum
- Constellation
- Vela
- Apparent magnitude
- 2.69
- Distance
- 117.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 161.692° · Dec -49.420°
- Catalogue
- HIP 52727 · HD 93497
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
- MarkebKappa Velorum2.47
- HIP 467013.16
- Phi Velorum3.52
- Omicron Velorum3.60
- Psi Velorum3.60