
Star profile
Psi Hydrae
What is Psi Hydrae
Psi Hydrae is an orange K1 giant in vast Hydra, the longest constellation in the sky. At 232 light-years, its warm light marks one of the many waypoints where the celestial serpent's body crosses the equator. Faint to the unaided eye —magnitude 4.94— it belongs to that family of ageing stars that have left hydrogen burning behind and slowly swollen toward their final shape.
Where it is and when to see it
Psi Hydrae 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.
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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
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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 Psi Hydrae
- Constellation
- Hydra
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.94
- Distance
- 231.5 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 197.264° · Dec -23.118°
- Catalogue
- HIP 64166 · HD 114149
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Hydra
Hydra has 121 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AlphardAlpha Hydrae1.99
- Gamma Hydrae2.99
- Zeta Hydrae3.11
- HIP 475924.93
- HIP 562804.93
- Felis4.94
- 52 Hydrae4.97
- 6 Hydrae4.98