Star profile
Alpha Circinus
Variable starWhat is Alpha Circinus
Alpha Circini is the brightest star in the small constellation of the Compass, only 54 light-years away. It belongs to the rare roAp family — peculiar A-type stars with strong magnetic fields that pulse on scales of minutes, like a cosmic tuning fork. To the unaided eye it is a quiet white spark beside the foot of Centaurus, yet telescopes reveal unusual concentrations of heavy elements in its atmosphere, aligned by its magnetism, making it a well-studied curiosity of the southern sky.
Where it is and when to see it
Alpha Circinus 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 Alpha Circinus
- Constellation
- Circinus
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.18
- Distance
- 54.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 220.627° · Dec -64.975°
- Catalogue
- HIP 71908 · HD 128898
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Circinus
Circinus has 21 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Beta Circinus4.07
- Gamma Circinus4.48
- Epsilon Circinus4.85
- Delta Circinus5.04
- Theta Circinus5.08
- Eta Circinus5.16
- HIP 730365.18
- HIP 721315.36