hip-66200

Variable star

Its story

78 Virginis holds a quiet place in astronomical history: in 1947 Horace Babcock detected in it the first magnetic field ever measured on a star other than the Sun. It is a chemically peculiar Ap star, threaded by a global magnetic dipole of about 3.3 kilogauss and laced with strontium and chromium at the surface. Its brightness wavers gently every 3.7 days as it turns its magnetic patches towards us, 185 light-years off.

Constellation: Virgo
Apparent magnitude: 4.92
Distance: 184.8 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 203.533° · Dec 3.659°
Catalogue: HIP 66200 · HD 118022

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Symbolic commemorative gift — no ownership, no IAU recognition.