Star profile

HIP 69373

Cool red star

3D likeness based on its real data · class M · ~3,200 K

What is HIP 69373

Near the Lesser Bear, almost grazing the celestial north, a red giant agonises with dignity 428 light-years away. Its light set out around 1597, when Tycho Brahe was finishing his catalogues at Uraniborg without a telescope, only with bronze quadrants. Cool M-type stars are enormous swollen bonfires: a thousand Suns fit inside their volume, and still they shine redder than any sunrise.

Where it is and when to see it

HIP 69373 lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is February, when it culminates around midnight.

From London it never sets and culminates about 72° up.
From New York it never sets and culminates about 61° up.
From Sydney it never rises above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere north of 21° S.

It ranks no. 14 in brightness among the 25 stars of Ursa Minor in our catalogue. To find it, start from Polaris, the brightest: it lies about 21° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 430 years ago.

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Astronomical data for HIP 69373

Constellation: Ursa Minor
Apparent magnitude: 5.18
Distance: 428.1 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 213.017° · Dec 69.433°
Catalogue: HIP 69373 · HD 124730

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Other stars in Ursa Minor

Ursa Minor has 25 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 25 stars in Ursa Minor