Star profile
78 Herculis
What is 78 Herculis
78 Herculis rises with the kneeling man, in one of the most northerly extremities of its catalogue. It is a white A-type star whose young, hot light crosses 268 years before touching the Earth's atmosphere. It set out when Bach was composing his cantatas in Leipzig. Its blue-white tone stands apart from the yellow and red giants that populate the rest of Hercules.
Where it is and when to see it
78 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 78 Herculis
- Constellation
- Hercules
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.66
- Distance
- 267.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 262.957° · Dec 28.407°
- Catalogue
- HIP 85790 · HD 159139
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
- 28 Herculis5.63
- HIP 857155.63
- HIP 859125.65
- HIP 846915.68
- HIP 859305.68