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: 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 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
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
- Epsilon Herculis3.92
- Rho Herculis4.15
- 110 Herculis4.19
- Phi Herculis4.23
- 95 Herculis4.26