Star profile
74 Virginis
Cool red starWhat is 74 Virginis
74 Virginis is a cool red M-type giant in the southern reaches of Virgo, around 400 light-years away. Its ruddy hue betrays a surface far colder than the Sun's, an aged star that has swelled its outer envelope. The light arriving tonight set out when Elizabethan astronomers were first lifting telescopes to the sky, with no inkling of this distant ember.
Where it is and when to see it
74 Virginis 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.
It opens in your browser. Free, no account, nothing to install.
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
If you don't have an account yet, we'll ask for an email to confirm it's you: we send you a link and that's it, no password.
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 74 Virginis
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.68
- Distance
- 399.8 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 202.991° · Dec -6.256°
- Catalogue
- HIP 66006 · HD 117675
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Virgo
Virgo has 99 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- SpicaAlpha Virginis0.98
- PorrimaGamma Virginis2.74
- VindemiatrixEpsilon Virginis2.85
- KhambaliaLambda Virginis4.52
- Pi Virginis4.65
- Chi Virginis4.66
- 61 Virginis4.74
- 69 Virginis4.76