Star profile
74 Herculis
Cool red starWhat is 74 Herculis
74 Herculis is a cool red M-type giant some 558 light-years away in Hercules, the constellation the Greeks dedicated to the kneeling hero. Its surface, much colder than the Sun's, dyes its light an almost reddish orange, characteristic of stars that have left their nuclear youth behind and swollen like embers. The light reaching Earth today set out during the religious wars of the fifteenth century.
Where it is and when to see it
74 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 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.
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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 74 Herculis
- Constellation
- Hercules
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.51
- Distance
- 557.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 260.088° · Dec 46.241°
- Catalogue
- HIP 84835 · HD 157325
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
- HIP 800085.48
- 47 Herculis5.48
- HIP 888365.49
- HIP 873085.51
- HIP 853855.52