Star profile

Tau Centauri

3D likeness based on its real data · class A · ~8,500 K

What is Tau Centauri

Tau Centauri shines with the white elegance characteristic of A-type stars, some 131 light-years away in the vast southern Centaurus. Its light is younger and hotter than the Sun's, marked by the bluish sharpness typical of stars still living fully off hydrogen fusion in their core.

Where it is and when to see it

Tau Centauri 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.

Find it on the sky map

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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

If you don't have an account yet, we'll ask for an email to confirm it's you: we send you a link and that's it, no password.

Write my signature

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 Tau Centauri

Constellation: Centaurus
Apparent magnitude: 3.85
Distance: 131.3 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 189.426° · Dec -48.541°
Catalogue: HIP 61622 · HD 109787

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.

See all 174 stars in Centaurus