Star profile
Nu Herculis
Variable starWhat is Nu Herculis
Nu Herculis is a rare yellow-white F2 bright giant, a pulsating variable shining almost a thousand times more than the Sun, 860 light-years away. It shares its system with a companion barely half an arcsecond apart, a pair only the largest telescopes can resolve. It belongs to the body of Hercules, that hero kneeling upside-down across the northern summer sky.
Where it is and when to see it
Nu 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 culminates about 69° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 79° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 26° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 60° S.
It ranks no. 24 in brightness among the 136 stars of Hercules in our catalogue. To find it, start from Kornephoros, the brightest: it lies about 22° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 860 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Nu Herculis
- Constellation
- Hercules
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.41
- Distance
- 860.7 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 269.626° · Dec 30.189°
- Catalogue
- HIP 87998 · HD 164136
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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
- 111 Herculis4.34
- 102 Herculis4.37
- MaasymLambda Herculis4.41
- CujamOmega Herculis4.57
- 113 Herculis4.57