Star profile

Iota Ara

Variable star

3D likeness based on its real data · class B · ~15,000 K

What is Iota Ara

ι Arae burns blue-white within the southern Altar, some 935 light-years away. It is a variable Be star: its brightness flickers slightly every 13.4 hours while a gaseous disc forms and dissolves around its equator. With 8.3 solar masses, it radiates nearly eleven thousand times the Sun's light at a searing 20,000 K. A restless young star, marked by the violence of its own rotation.

Where it is and when to see it

Iota 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, when it culminates around midnight.

From London it never rises above the horizon.
From New York it culminates about 2° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 76° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere south of 43° N.

It ranks no. 13 in brightness among the 43 stars of Ara in our catalogue. To find it, start from Beta Ara, the brightest: it lies about 8° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 930 years ago.

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Astronomical data for Iota Ara

Constellation: Ara
Apparent magnitude: 5.21
Distance: 934.7 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 260.817° · Dec -47.468°
Catalogue: HIP 85079 · HD 157042

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Other stars in Ara

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

See all 43 stars in Ara