Star profile

52 Hydrae

Hot blue star

3D likeness based on its real data · class B · ~15,000 K

What is 52 Hydrae

52 Hydrae burns blue at nearly four hundred light-years, one of the hot stars scattered along the reaches of Hydra, the sky's largest and longest constellation. Its light set out when European astronomers had not yet invented the modern refracting telescope. Faint to the naked eye, its B spectral class reveals a surface temperature far above that of the Sun and a stellar life destined to be brief and luminous.

Where it is and when to see it

52 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 9° above the horizon.
From New York it culminates about 20° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 86° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere south of 61° N.

It ranks no. 42 in brightness among the 121 stars of Hydra in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alphard, the brightest: it lies about 73° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 390 years ago.

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Astronomical data for 52 Hydrae

Constellation: Hydra
Apparent magnitude: 4.97
Distance: 393.5 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 217.043° · Dec -29.492°
Catalogue: HIP 70753 · HD 126769

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Other stars in Hydra

Hydra has 121 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 121 stars in Hydra