Star profile
HIP 71280
Variable starWhat is HIP 71280
In the sober silhouette of Boötes, the herdsman who chases the Bear, burns a rare red M-type star. Its light set out around 856 years ago, near 1170, when Slavic peoples were Christianizing their kingdoms and Chrétien de Troyes was writing the first Arthurian romances. Cooler than the Sun yet gigantic, its reddish tone reveals an already very advanced life. Variable, it beats with a slow pulse, swelling and contracting, as if light itself were sustained by its own breath.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 71280 lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is March: 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 HIP 71280
- Constellation
- Boötes
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.74
- Distance
- 856.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 218.665° · Dec 49.368°
- Catalogue
- HIP 71280 · HD 128333
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Boötes
Boötes has 88 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- ArcturusAlpha Boötis-0.05
- IzarEpsilon Boötis2.35
- MuphridEta Boötis2.68
- HIP 720125.72
- HIP 731665.72
- 1 Boötis5.73
- HIP 715685.74
- 10 Boötis5.76