Star profile
Kappa Octans
Southern polar starWhat is Kappa Octans
Kappa Octantis belongs to the Octant, the constellation that wraps the south celestial pole. A white type A star some 273 light-years away, it shines in a sky empty of well-known stars, where Earth points its southern rotation axis without a beacon comparable to the northern Polaris. Sigma Octantis nominally occupies that role, but is so faint that stars like Kappa, themselves modest, nevertheless help to populate the silence of the invisible pole with light.
Where it is and when to see it
Kappa Octans lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is June: 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 Kappa Octans
- Constellation
- Octans
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.56
- Distance
- 273.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 205.234° · Dec -85.786°
- Catalogue
- HIP 66753 · HD 117374
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Octans
Octans has 35 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Nu Octans3.73
- Beta Octans4.13
- Delta Octans4.31
- Phi Octans5.47
- Psi Octans5.49
- Tau Octans5.50
- Rho Octans5.57
- Pi 1 Octans5.65