Star profile
Marsic
Kappa Herculis · Hercules
What is Marsic
Marsic occupies a quiet corner of Hercules, the hero who strides across the northern sky carrying his twelve labours. A yellow star 367 light-years away, its name comes from the Arabic «al-mirfaq», the elbow, after its anatomical position in the figure of the demigod. Its light takes nearly four centuries to reach us: when it set out, the first gazettes were being printed in Europe and the modern press was being born.
Where it is and when to see it
Marsic lies in the northern 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 Marsic
- Constellation
- Hercules
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.00
- Distance
- 367.8 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 242.019° · Dec 17.047°
- Catalogue
- HIP 79043 · HD 145001
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.
- KornephorosBeta Herculis2.78
- RasalgethiAlpha 1 Herculis2.78
- Zeta Herculis2.81
- 98 Herculis4.96
- 104 Herculis4.96
- HIP 834304.97
- HIP 887885.00
- HIP 848335.01