Star profile
Xi 2 Centauri
Hot blue starWhat is Xi 2 Centauri
Xi-2 Centauri is a blue triple system 467 light-years away, with an inner pair orbiting in just seven and a half days and a third, cooler companion sitting twenty-five arcseconds away. The primary is a B1.5 star carrying eight solar masses and shining with 1,700 times the Sun's luminosity at nearly 21,000 kelvin. The inner binary was discovered in 1910 by American astronomer Joseph Haines Moore.
Where it is and when to see it
Xi 2 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, 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 culminates about 74° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 40° N.
It ranks no. 29 in brightness among the 174 stars of Centaurus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Rigil Kentaurus, the brightest: it lies about 17° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 470 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Xi 2 Centauri
- Constellation
- Centaurus
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.27
- Distance
- 467.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 196.728° · Dec -49.906°
- Catalogue
- HIP 64004 · HD 113791
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Other stars in Centaurus
Centaurus has 174 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Rigil KentaurusAlpha 1 Centauri-0.01
- HadarBeta Centauri0.61
- TolimanAlpha 2 Centauri1.35
- 2 Centauri4.19
- 1 Centauri4.23
- HIP 628964.25
- HIP 576694.30
- HIP 700694.30