Star profile
HIP 56986
What is HIP 56986
Far, very far inside Centaurus, a yellow G-type star sends its light from 889 light-years away. The photon we might catch tonight departed when Europe was barely emerging from the Middle Ages and the first mechanical clocks chimed in tower bells. It is a cousin of the Sun in colour and temperature, yet vastly more distant in time and space. To look at it is to glimpse a cosmic noon that happened long before the Renaissance was born.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 56986 lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is April: 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 56986
- Constellation
- Centaurus
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.93
- Distance
- 888.8 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 175.224° · Dec -62.090°
- Catalogue
- HIP 56986 · HD 101570
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Centaurus
Centaurus has 174 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Rigil KentaurusAlpha 1 Centauri-0.01
- HadarBeta Centauri0.61
- TolimanAlpha 2 Centauri1.35
- HIP 626834.90
- HIP 645834.90
- HIP 721044.92
- HIP 668214.99
- HIP 555885.00