Star profile
HIP 63688
Hot blue starWhat is HIP 63688
In Musca, the small southern fly, blazes a blue B-type star whose light has been traveling for a thousand years. It set out when the Maghrebi kingdoms were flourishing and the workshops of Córdoba and Seville were translating Greek philosophy for Europe. Very hot and massive, several times more luminous than the Sun, it is a blue-white incandescence in a constellation drawn by Dutch navigators in the southern sky. Its flame is a medieval message only now crossing the threshold of our telescopes, claimed by no proper name.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 63688 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 19° N.
It ranks no. 29 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 1,000 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 HIP 63688
- Constellation
- Musca
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.93
- Distance
- 1000.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 195.772° · Dec -71.476°
- Catalogue
- HIP 63688 · HD 113120
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
- HIP 644665.91
- HIP 643905.92
- HIP 631655.93
- HIP 567275.94
- HIP 590505.95