Star profile
Beta Musca
Hot blue starWhat is Beta Musca
Beta Muscae burns with the sharp blue of B-type stars within a small, seldom-noticed southern constellation. Some 342 light-years away, its light crosses a quiet patch of sky where there is little to compete with it: Musca is unassuming, almost a whisper between the Southern Cross and Chamaeleon. That modesty of setting turns it into an unexpected beacon —a cold, precise flame in a region the eye tends to skim.
Where it is and when to see it
Beta 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 56° up.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 22° N.
It ranks no. 2 in brightness among the 31 stars of Musca in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alpha Musca, the brightest: it lies about 1° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 340 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 Beta Musca
- Constellation
- Musca
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.04
- Distance
- 341.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 191.570° · Dec -68.108°
- Catalogue
- HIP 62322 · HD 110879
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Other stars in Musca
Musca has 31 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Musca2.69
- Delta Musca3.61
- Lambda Musca3.63
- Gamma Musca3.84
- Epsilon Musca4.06
- Mu Musca4.75
- Eta Musca4.79
- HIP 648204.86