Star profile
43 Ophiuchi
What is 43 Ophiuchi
43 Ophiuchi burns orange around 820 light-years away, in the body of the Serpent Bearer, that giant figure standing between Hercules and the Scorpion. Its type-K spectrum describes a surface cooler than the Sun s, the colour of old embers. Its light has been travelling since before the discovery of America; what arrives tonight is an echo of a medieval world.
Where it is and when to see it
43 Ophiuchi 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.
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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 43 Ophiuchi
- Constellation
- Ophiuchus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.30
- Distance
- 819.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 260.840° · Dec -28.143°
- Catalogue
- HIP 85084 · HD 157236
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Ophiuchus
Ophiuchus has 88 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- RasalhagueAlpha Ophiuchi2.08
- SabikEta Ophiuchi2.43
- Zeta Ophiuchi2.54
- 23 Ophiuchi5.23
- Tau Ophiuchi5.24
- HIP 806205.24
- HIP 856675.31
- 37 Ophiuchi5.32