Star profile

Phi Boötis

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

What is Phi Boötis

Phi Boötis is a yellow star about 170 light-years away in Boötes, the figure that herds the bears around the pole. Of G class like the Sun but already in its giant phase, its warm light keeps company with Arcturus —the fourth-brightest star in the sky— as a discreet satellite. It is close, in stellar terms, and that lends it a clarity its mere magnitude does not suggest.

Where it is and when to see it

Phi Boötis lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is April, when it culminates around midnight.

From London it never sets and culminates about 79° up.
From New York it culminates about 90° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 16° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere north of 50° S.

It ranks no. 36 in brightness among the 88 stars of Boötes in our catalogue. To find it, start from Arcturus, the brightest: it lies about 28° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 170 years ago.

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Astronomical data for Phi Boötis

Constellation: Boötes
Apparent magnitude: 5.25
Distance: 169.7 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 234.457° · Dec 40.353°
Catalogue: HIP 76534 · HD 139641

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