Star profile
HIP 5372
Northern polar starWhat is HIP 5372
High in Cepheus, this orange star spreads a warm, steady glow — an amber flame that has long since left behind the blue impatience of younger suns. Its light set out about 280 years ago, when European encyclopedists were trying to gather every human discipline into bound volumes. Cooler than our Sun yet more generous in girth, it hangs near the celestial pole like a lantern keeping watch over the slow turning of the northern sky.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 5372 lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is December, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never sets and culminates about 55° up.
- From New York it never sets and culminates about 44° up.
- From Sydney it never rises above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 4° S.
It ranks no. 11 in brightness among the 95 stars of Cepheus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alderamin, the brightest: it lies about 26° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 280 years ago.
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Astronomical data for HIP 5372
- Constellation
- Cepheus
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.24
- Distance
- 280.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 17.184° · Dec 86.257°
- Catalogue
- HIP 5372 · HD 5848
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Cepheus
Cepheus has 95 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AlderaminAlpha Cepheus2.45
- ErraiGamma Cepheus3.21
- AlfirkBeta Cepheus3.23
- Epsilon Cepheus4.18
- Theta Cepheus4.21
- Mu Cepheus4.23
- Nu Cepheus4.25
- KurhahXi Cepheus4.26