Star profile
Epsilon Centauri
Variable starWhat is Epsilon Centauri
Epsilon Centauri is a blue giant some 430 light-years away, nearly twelve solar masses and over fifteen thousand times the Sun's luminosity. It belongs to the rare lineage of Beta Cephei variables: every four hours it imperceptibly contracts and swells, beating like a young heart barely sixteen million years old. When it appears in the southern sky, it always does so with that same secret cadence.
Where it is and when to see it
Epsilon 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 May: 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 Epsilon Centauri
- Constellation
- Centaurus
- Apparent magnitude
- 2.29
- Distance
- 427.5 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 204.972° · Dec -53.466°
- Catalogue
- HIP 66657 · HD 118716
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
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
- MenkentTheta Centauri2.06
- Gamma Centauri2.20
- Eta Centauri2.33
- Zeta Centauri2.55
- Delta Centauri2.58