Star profile
Chi 2 Hydrae
Variable starWhat is Chi 2 Hydrae
Chi-2 Hydrae is a blue-white B-type star lying some 693 light-years away, in the winding Hydra, the longest constellation in the sky. Its brightness varies with the discreet oscillations typical of hot stars that pulse slightly across their surface, a barely perceptible breathing. It sits in a part of the sky where the Milky Way grows faint and stars stand widely apart from one another.
Where it is and when to see it
Chi 2 Hydrae 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 Chi 2 Hydrae
- Constellation
- Hydra
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.69
- Distance
- 692.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 166.490° · Dec -27.288°
- Catalogue
- HIP 54255 · HD 96314
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Hydra
Hydra has 121 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AlphardAlpha Hydrae1.99
- Gamma Hydrae2.99
- Zeta Hydrae3.11
- HIP 625005.65
- 59 Hydrae5.65
- HIP 465115.66
- HIP 660655.69
- HIP 430265.70