Star profile
Sigma Herculis
Hot blue starWhat is Sigma Herculis
Sigma Herculis is a hot blue-white star, far more massive and luminous than the Sun, lying just over three hundred light-years away. It belongs to that cohort of B-type bodies that burn violently, spending in a few hundred million years a fuel reserve that will last the Sun for ten thousand. It shines in a quieter corner of Hercules, away from the keystone of the kneeling hero.
Where it is and when to see it
Sigma 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 May, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never sets and culminates about 81° up.
- From New York it culminates about 88° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 14° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 48° S.
It ranks no. 18 in brightness among the 136 stars of Hercules in our catalogue. To find it, start from Kornephoros, the brightest: it lies about 21° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 310 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Sigma Herculis
- Constellation
- Hercules
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.20
- Distance
- 314.9 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 248.526° · Dec 42.437°
- Catalogue
- HIP 81126 · HD 149630
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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
- Epsilon Herculis3.92
- Rho Herculis4.15
- 110 Herculis4.19
- Phi Herculis4.23
- 95 Herculis4.26