Star profile
Tau 1 Lupi
Variable starWhat is Tau 1 Lupi
Tau-1 Lupi is a Beta Cephei-type variable: a hot blue star whose surface pulses every few hours, driven by the strange behaviour of iron at two hundred thousand degrees deep within. That rapid breathing barely shifts its brightness, yet betrays a hidden engine. At 1,091 light-years, the light arriving tonight set out when Europe still taught Latin in its medieval universities.
Where it is and when to see it
Tau 1 Lupi 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 Tau 1 Lupi
- Constellation
- Lupus
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.56
- Distance
- 1091.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 216.534° · Dec -45.221°
- Catalogue
- HIP 70574 · HD 126341
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Lupus
Lupus has 74 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Lupi2.30
- Beta Lupi2.68
- Gamma Lupi2.80
- Sigma Lupi4.44
- Phi 2 Lupi4.54
- HIP 763714.55
- HIP 755014.60
- HIP 768294.64