Star profile

Chi Herculis

3D likeness based on its real data · class F · ~6,500 K

What is Chi Herculis

Chi-1 Herculis is a close neighbour of the Sun, just 51 light-years away, a yellowish-white F-type star notable for its metal-poor composition: it carries far less iron and oxygen than the Sun, making it a witness to an older epoch of the galaxy. Its light took only half a century to arrive: what we see today set out around the year DNA was identified as a double helix, while Hercules holds his club motionless in the summer sky.

Where it is and when to see it

Chi Herculis 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: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.

Find it on the sky map

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The signature wall

Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.

A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works

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Write my signature

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 Chi Herculis

Constellation: Hercules
Apparent magnitude: 4.60
Distance: 51.8 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 238.169° · Dec 42.452°
Catalogue: HIP 77760 · HD 142373

A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.

Other stars in Hercules

Hercules has 136 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 136 stars in Hercules