Star profile
Iota Herculis
Variable starWhat is Iota Herculis
One of the most thoroughly studied pulsating stars in Hercules: a blue-white B3 IV that beats in two distinct modes at once — the rapid drum of Beta Cephei variables and the slower swell of slowly pulsating B stars. That double personality has turned it into an asteroseismology laboratory, the discipline that listens to a star's interior the way a stethoscope listens to a heart. Bound to an unseen companion that orbits it every 111 days, its blue light takes about 455 years to reach us.
Where it is and when to see it
Iota 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, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never sets and culminates about 85° up.
- From New York it culminates about 85° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 10° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 44° S.
It ranks no. 10 in brightness among the 136 stars of Hercules in our catalogue. To find it, start from Kornephoros, the brightest: it lies about 28° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 460 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Iota Herculis
- Constellation
- Hercules
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.82
- Distance
- 455.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 264.866° · Dec 46.006°
- Catalogue
- HIP 86414 · HD 160762
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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
- Eta Herculis3.48
- Xi Herculis3.70
- Gamma Herculis3.74
- Omicron Herculis3.84
- 109 Herculis3.85