Star profile
42 Ceti
What is 42 Ceti
42 Ceti, an A-class star, shines with clean white light about 328 light-years away within the outline of the celestial Whale. Its surface, far hotter than the Sun s, gives it that pale, luminous tone that betrays a young, energetic nature. The light reaching us tonight left around 1700, at the dawn of the Enlightenment.
Where it is and when to see it
42 Ceti lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is October, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it culminates about 38° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 49° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 57° above the horizon.
It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from nearly the whole planet.
It ranks no. 92 in brightness among the 111 stars of Cetus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Diphda, the brightest: it lies about 20° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 330 years ago.
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Astronomical data for 42 Ceti
- Constellation
- Cetus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.87
- Distance
- 328.5 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 19.951° · Dec -0.509°
- Catalogue
- HIP 6226 · HD 8036
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Other stars in Cetus
Cetus has 111 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- DiphdaBeta Ceti2.04
- MenkarAlpha Ceti2.54
- Eta Ceti3.46
- HIP 121485.81
- HIP 8735.84
- HIP 103265.86
- HIP 95725.87
- HIP 113485.88