Star profile
11 Serpens
What is 11 Serpens
11 Serpentis shines in the Serpent's Head, one of the two halves into which this constellation was split by Ophiuchus. It is an orange K-type giant whose mild light takes 280 years to cross the space between us —it set out when Newton was publishing his Principia. Today it reaches the trained eye at magnitude 5.5, almost at the threshold of visibility under rural skies.
Where it is and when to see it
11 Serpens 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 culminates about 37° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 48° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 57° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 89° N.
It ranks no. 35 in brightness among the 65 stars of Serpens in our catalogue. To find it, start from Unukalhai, the brightest: it lies about 8° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 280 years ago.
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Astronomical data for 11 Serpens
- Constellation
- Serpens
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.50
- Distance
- 280.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 233.241° · Dec -1.186°
- Catalogue
- HIP 76133 · HD 138562
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Other stars in Serpens
Serpens has 65 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- UnukalhaiAlpha Serpens2.63
- Eta Serpens3.23
- Mu Serpens3.54
- HIP 791955.39
- HIP 898515.39
- HIP 779025.45
- Phi Serpens5.54
- HIP 860195.54