
Star profile
Beta Crateris
What is Beta Crateris
Beta Crateris marks the base of the Cup, the small chalice that hangs from the back of the Hydra in old star charts. A white type-A star, it lies about 340 light-years away. When its light set out toward us, the first refracting telescopes were just appearing in Dutch workshops. Crater is a constellation of the ancient Greek sky, already catalogued by Ptolemy in the second century.
Where it is and when to see it
Beta Crateris 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.
It opens in your browser. Free, no account, nothing to install.
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
If you don't have an account yet, we'll ask for an email to confirm it's you: we send you a link and that's it, no password.
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 Beta Crateris
- Constellation
- Crater
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.46
- Distance
- 340.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 167.915° · Dec -22.826°
- Catalogue
- HIP 54682 · HD 97277
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Crater
Crater has 17 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Delta Crateris3.56
- Gamma Crateris4.06
- AlkesAlpha Crateris4.08
- Theta Crateris4.70
- Zeta Crateris4.71
- Epsilon Crateris4.81
- Lambda Crateris5.08
- Eta Crateris5.17