Star profile
Kappa Centauri
Hot blue starWhat is Kappa Centauri
Kappa Centauri belongs to the Upper Centaurus-Lupus association, a sisterhood of young stars born together from the same gas only 17 million years ago. A blue subgiant seven times the Sun's mass, it drifts in quiet formation with its siblings through the nearest patch of sky still rich in massive stars. Its light has been travelling 383 years to reach us.
Where it is and when to see it
Kappa 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, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never rises above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 7° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 82° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 48° N.
It ranks no. 12 in brightness among the 174 stars of Centaurus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Rigil Kentaurus, the brightest: it lies about 19° 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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Astronomical data for Kappa Centauri
- Constellation
- Centaurus
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.13
- Distance
- 383.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 224.790° · Dec -42.104°
- Catalogue
- HIP 73334 · HD 132200
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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
- Delta Centauri2.58
- Iota Centauri2.75
- Lambda Centauri3.11
- Nu Centauri3.41
- Mu Centauri3.47