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Star profile

Eta Ara

3D likeness based on its real data · class K · ~4,200 K

What is Eta Ara

Eta Arae is an orange giant with 575 times the Sun's luminosity and a radius forty times greater, an aged star of five billion years anchored in the Altar's southern frame. It spins so slowly that a single rotation takes more than eleven Earth years. Its copper-colored light has been traveling for three centuries before reaching tonight's sky.

Where it is and when to see it

Eta Ara lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is June: 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.

Find it on the sky map

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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

If you don't have an account yet, we'll ask for an email to confirm it's you: we send you a link and that's it, no password.

Write my signature

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 Eta Ara

Constellation
Ara
Apparent magnitude
3.77
Distance
299.3 light years
Coordinates (J2000)
RA 252.446° · Dec -59.041°
Catalogue
HIP 82363 · HD 151249

A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.

Other stars in Ara

Ara has 43 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 43 stars in Ara