Star profile
HIP 52863
Cool red starWhat is HIP 52863
In the small Sextans, the astronomical sextant turned constellation, shines a red M-type giant about 546 light-years away. Its light set out around 1480, in the transition into the modern era, when Leonardo was sketching his flying machines in mirror-script notebooks. Far cooler than the Sun yet swollen to giant size, it radiates a slow, rusted red, almost like iron at low embers.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 52863 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: 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 52863
- Constellation
- Sextans
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.92
- Distance
- 546.4 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 162.169° · Dec -1.959°
- Catalogue
- HIP 52863 · HD 93655
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Sextans
Sextans has 17 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Sextantis4.48
- Gamma Sextantis5.07
- Beta Sextantis5.08
- HIP 529485.85
- HIP 485195.90
- 17 Sextantis5.91
- 25 Sextantis5.93
- HIP 530355.95