Star profile
HIP 56620
What is HIP 56620
Hydra is the longest constellation in the sky, a serpent gliding across half the vault. Among its scales shines an orange K-type star whose light has been travelling some three hundred sixty-four years. It set out when Velázquez was painting Las Meninas and the court of Philip IV was living its final splendours. Cooler and more golden than the Sun, it radiates with the calm of embers. A light from the Spanish Golden Age, still crossing space.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 56620 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 56620
- Constellation
- Hydra
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.71
- Distance
- 364.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 174.146° · Dec -33.570°
- Catalogue
- HIP 56620 · HD 100893
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 493395.70
- HIP 536995.70
- HIP 519335.71
- 3 Hydrae5.72
- HIP 451585.72