Star profile
51 Hydrae
What is 51 Hydrae
51 Hydrae is an orange giant that has left its nuclear youth behind: it spent the hydrogen at its core and swelled past ten solar radii, radiating a warmer, older red than the Sun. The constellation Hydra winds across the southern sky, long and quiet, and this star is one of its warm points. Its light takes some one hundred and sixty years to reach us.
Where it is and when to see it
51 Hydrae 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, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it culminates about 11° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 22° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 84° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 62° N.
It ranks no. 30 in brightness among the 121 stars of Hydra in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alphard, the brightest: it lies about 72° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 160 years ago.
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Astronomical data for 51 Hydrae
- Constellation
- Hydra
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.78
- Distance
- 157.4 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 215.774° · Dec -27.754°
- Catalogue
- HIP 70306 · HD 125932
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Other stars in Hydra
Hydra has 121 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AlphardAlpha Hydrae1.99
- Gamma Hydrae2.99
- Zeta Hydrae3.11
- HIP 463714.72
- HIP 475224.76
- 26 Hydrae4.77
- 27 Hydrae4.80
- 9 Hydrae4.87