Star profile
HIP 60979
Variable starWhat is HIP 60979
In the steppes of Centaurus beats a red variable M-class star, whose light set out some 738 years ago, in the late Middle Ages, when the great illuminated European codices were being inscribed. Variable M stars are unstable elders: swollen, cool giants that expand and contract in long cycles, slowly losing their matter into space as a gentle stellar wind.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 60979 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
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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 60979
- Constellation
- Centaurus
- Apparent magnitude
- 6.00
- Distance
- 738.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 187.491° · Dec -41.736°
- Catalogue
- HIP 60979 · HD 108759
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 640335.98
- HIP 627865.99
- HIP 709875.99
- HIP 651296.00
- HIP 665756.00