Star profile

HIP 73909

3D likeness based on its real data · class G · ~5,500 K

What is HIP 73909

Boötes is a constellation of the northern spring, drawn as a herdsman driving the bears around the pole. Among its lesser stars glows this yellow sun, a sibling in tone and temperature to our own, whose light took about 258 years to arrive. When it set out, Enlightenment astronomers were launching expeditions across the globe to time the transit of Venus and, for the first time, calculate the real size of the Solar System. Today that yellow glow reaches us as a silent echo of those voyages.

Where it is and when to see it

HIP 73909 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, when it culminates around midnight.

From London it never sets and culminates about 87° up.
From New York it never sets and culminates about 76° up.
From Sydney it culminates about 2° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere north of 35° S.

It ranks no. 35 in brightness among the 88 stars of Boötes in our catalogue. To find it, start from Arcturus, the brightest: it lies about 37° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 260 years ago.

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Astronomical data for HIP 73909

Constellation: Boötes
Apparent magnitude: 5.24
Distance: 257.5 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 226.570° · Dec 54.556°
Catalogue: HIP 73909 · HD 134190

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.

See all 88 stars in Boötes