Star profile
Beta Lupi
Hot blue starWhat is Beta Lupi
Beta Lupi —once Romanised as Kekouan from a Chinese name meaning «fourth imperial guard»— burns above 24,000 K within the body of the southern Wolf. A blue giant of about nine solar masses, still young at twenty-five million years, it pulses every five hours as a Beta Cephei variable. When its hydrogen runs out it will hesitate at the edge of detonation: a credible, if uncertain, candidate to end as a supernova.
Where it is and when to see it
Beta 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, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never rises above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 6° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 81° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 47° N.
It ranks no. 2 in brightness among the 74 stars of Lupus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alpha Lupi, the brightest: it lies about 5° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 380 years ago.
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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 Beta Lupi
- Constellation
- Lupus
- Apparent magnitude
- 2.68
- Distance
- 382.9 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 224.633° · Dec -43.134°
- Catalogue
- HIP 73273 · HD 132058
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Other stars in Lupus
Lupus has 74 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Lupi2.30
- Gamma Lupi2.80
- Delta Lupi3.22
- Epsilon Lupi3.37
- Zeta Lupi3.41
- Eta Lupi3.42
- Iota Lupi3.55
- Phi 1 Lupi3.57