Star profile
66 Ophiuchi
Variable starWhat is 66 Ophiuchi
66 Ophiuchi is a variable blue B-type star 651 light-years away, deep inside vast Ophiuchus, the serpent-bearer straddling the celestial equator. Its brightness is not constant: it shifts subtly, the fingerprint of pulsations or gas ejections common in hot B stars whose surfaces hover near 20,000 degrees. It belongs to a region of sky thick with young clusters and dark nebulae.
Where it is and when to see it
66 Ophiuchi 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 66 Ophiuchi
- Constellation
- Ophiuchus
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.79
- Distance
- 651.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 270.066° · Dec 4.369°
- Catalogue
- HIP 88149 · HD 164284
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
- 41 Ophiuchi4.72
- Tau Ophiuchi4.77
- 51 Ophiuchi4.78
- 30 Ophiuchi4.82
- 74 Ophiuchi4.85