Star profile
Fang
Pi Scorpii · Scorpius
Variable starWhat is Fang
Fang, in Scorpius, takes its name from an ancient Chinese asterism representing a room or chamber, part of the traditional division of the sky into the twenty-eight lunar mansions used by court astronomers. It is a blue variable star 586 light-years away, member of a multiple system whose combined brightness shifts in subtle, slow rhythms. Its light set out around the time Gutenberg was finishing his first printed Bible in the workshops of Mainz.
Where it is and when to see it
Fang 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: 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.
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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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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 Fang
- Constellation
- Scorpius
- Apparent magnitude
- 2.89
- Distance
- 585.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 239.713° · Dec -26.114°
- Catalogue
- HIP 78265 · HD 143018
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Scorpius
Scorpius has 104 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AntaresAlpha Scorpii1.06
- ShaulaLambda Scorpii1.62
- SargasTheta Scorpii1.86
- AcrabBeta 1 Scorpii2.56
- LesathUpsilon Scorpii2.70
- PaikauhaleTau Scorpii2.82
- AlniyatSigma Scorpii2.90
- Iota 1 Scorpii2.99