Star profile
Gamma Musca
Variable starWhat is Gamma Musca
Gamma Muscae beats within the small southern constellation of the Fly, that creature charted by Dutch navigators in the seventeenth century. A blue B-type star, it is also a Beta Cephei variable: its surface pulses with a barely perceptible heartbeat every few hours, a kind of stellar breathing. From three hundred and twenty-five light-years away, its light tells a rhythmic story.
Where it is and when to see it
Gamma Musca lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is May, 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 52° up.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 18° N.
It ranks no. 5 in brightness among the 31 stars of Musca in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alpha Musca, the brightest: it lies about 3° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 320 years ago.
It opens in your browser. Free, no account, nothing to install.
Leave your signature on Gamma Musca
Your name and a message go up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.
Without a lock, someone else can replace your signature. How the lock works
We'll ask for an email to confirm it's you, 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 Gamma Musca
- Constellation
- Musca
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.84
- Distance
- 324.9 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 188.117° · Dec -72.133°
- Catalogue
- HIP 61199 · HD 109026
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Musca
Musca has 31 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Musca2.69
- Beta Musca3.04
- Delta Musca3.61
- Lambda Musca3.63
- Epsilon Musca4.06
- Mu Musca4.75
- Eta Musca4.79
- HIP 648204.86