Star profile
Rho Herculis
Hot blue starWhat is Rho Herculis
Rho Herculis burns with the intense blue of type-B stars —hot and young by cosmic standards. It belongs to the framework of Hercules, the constellation Ptolemy called simply «the kneeler». Its light crosses nearly four hundred years of empty space to reach our telescopes, having set out when Galileo was still pointing his first lenses at the sky.
Where it is and when to see it
Rho 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 Rho Herculis
- Constellation
- Hercules
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.15
- Distance
- 393.5 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 260.921° · Dec 37.146°
- Catalogue
- HIP 85112 · HD 157778
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
- Theta Herculis3.86
- Tau Herculis3.91
- Epsilon Herculis3.92
- 110 Herculis4.19
- Sigma Herculis4.20