Star profile
Eta Sagittarii
Variable starWhat is Eta Sagittarii
Eta Sagittarii glows in the Archer’s bow as an M-type red giant about 146 light-years from Earth. Its light, filtered through a cool, distended atmosphere, shifts with quiet irregularity —the slow pulse of an aging star shedding its outer layers—. It belongs to a multiple system that telescopes resolve into separate components, rising over northern summer horizons buried within the densest band of the Milky Way, in that stretch of sky where the heavens become almost a river of stars.
Where it is and when to see it
Eta Sagittarii lies in the southern 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 2° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 13° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 87° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 53° N.
It ranks no. 8 in brightness among the 117 stars of Sagittarius in our catalogue. To find it, start from Kaus Australis, the brightest: it lies about 3° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 150 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Eta Sagittarii
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.10
- Distance
- 146.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 274.407° · Dec -36.762°
- Catalogue
- HIP 89642 · HD 167618
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Other stars in Sagittarius
Sagittarius has 117 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Kaus AustralisEpsilon Sagittarii1.79
- NunkiSigma Sagittarii2.05
- AscellaZeta Sagittarii2.60
- Kaus BorealisLambda Sagittarii2.82
- AlbaldahPi Sagittarii2.88
- AlnaslGamma 2 Sagittarii2.98
- Phi Sagittarii3.17
- Tau Sagittarii3.32