Star profile
HIP 80620
Variable starWhat is HIP 80620
A red M-type giant flickers within Ophiuchus, far cooler than the Sun yet incomparably larger. Its light, now visible to us, set out some six hundred years ago, when Gutenberg was setting his movable type and the world was preparing for the first explosion of printed knowledge. That reddish pulse arrives, then, as a distant echo of an era that learned to multiply the word while the stars kept on writing in silence.
Where it is and when to see it
HIP 80620 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 31° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 42° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 64° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 82° N.
It ranks no. 45 in brightness among the 88 stars of Ophiuchus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Rasalhague, the brightest: it lies about 26° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 580 years ago.
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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 HIP 80620
- Constellation
- Ophiuchus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.24
- Distance
- 577.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 246.931° · Dec -7.598°
- Catalogue
- HIP 80620 · HD 148349
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Ophiuchus
Ophiuchus has 88 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- RasalhagueAlpha Ophiuchi2.08
- SabikEta Ophiuchi2.43
- Zeta Ophiuchi2.54
- Omicron Ophiuchi5.14
- 23 Ophiuchi5.23
- Tau Ophiuchi5.24
- 43 Ophiuchi5.30
- HIP 856675.31