Star profile
HIP 60781
Variable starWhat is HIP 60781
A slow heartbeat runs through this red variable giant in the Southern Cross. Its light departed around 1583, the very year Galileo, still a student at Pisa, watched a lamp swing in the cathedral and uncovered the laws of the pendulum. Four hundred and forty years later, that cool, reddish class M glow still keeps to its cycle in one of the most celebrated corners of the southern sky.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 60781 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, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never rises above the horizon.
- From New York it never rises above the horizon.
- From Sydney it never sets and culminates about 65° up.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 31° N.
It ranks no. 19 in brightness among the 32 stars of Crux in our catalogue. To find it, start from Acrux, the brightest: it lies about 4° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 440 years ago.
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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 60781
- Constellation
- Crux
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.38
- Distance
- 443.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 186.870° · Dec -58.992°
- Catalogue
- HIP 60781 · HD 108396
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Crux
Crux has 32 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AcruxAlpha 1 Crucis0.77
- MimosaBeta Crucis1.25
- GacruxGamma Crucis1.59
- HIP 620275.27
- HIP 631175.34
- HIP 603795.38
- HIP 583795.44
- HIP 611365.49