Star profile
Eta Centauri
Variable starWhat is Eta Centauri
Eta Centauri is a blue star spinning at over 330 km/s, close to the speed at which it would tear itself apart. That ferocious rotation flings gas from its equator into a circumstellar disc that flickers in and out of brightness across many seasons. It burns with roughly 8,700 times the Sun's light from a surface near 25,700 K, 306 light-years away in the flank of the Centaur.
Where it is and when to see it
Eta Centauri 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 Eta Centauri
- Constellation
- Centaurus
- Apparent magnitude
- 2.33
- Distance
- 305.7 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 218.877° · Dec -42.158°
- Catalogue
- HIP 71352 · HD 127972
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Centaurus
Centaurus has 174 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Rigil KentaurusAlpha 1 Centauri-0.01
- HadarBeta Centauri0.61
- TolimanAlpha 2 Centauri1.35
- MenkentTheta Centauri2.06
- Gamma Centauri2.20
- Epsilon Centauri2.29
- Zeta Centauri2.55
- Delta Centauri2.58