Star profile
48 Ceti
What is 48 Ceti
48 Ceti is a white A-type star in Cetus, about 233 light-years away from Earth. Its light comes from a very hot photosphere where hydrogen absorbs in wide, sharp lines —the kind that, together with thousands of sister A-type stars, became a spectroscopic reference standard from the late nineteenth century onward. It shines without fanfare over the celestial sea-monster of northern autumn skies.
Where it is and when to see it
48 Ceti lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is October: 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 48 Ceti
- Constellation
- Cetus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.11
- Distance
- 232.8 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 22.401° · Dec -21.629°
- Catalogue
- HIP 6960 · HD 9132
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Cetus
Cetus has 111 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- DiphdaBeta Ceti2.04
- MenkarAlpha Ceti2.54
- Eta Ceti3.46
- HIP 79994.98
- 3 Ceti4.99
- 94 Ceti5.07
- HIP 11585.13
- 37 Ceti5.14