Star profile

Eta Serpens

3D likeness based on its real data · class K · ~4,200 K

What is Eta Serpens

Eta Serpentis is an orange subgiant lodged among the scales of the Serpent, barely sixty light-years away —a near neighbour on the Galactic scale. It weighs about one and a half solar masses and has swollen to nearly six times the Sun's radius, radiating some twenty times its energy. Its light, modest to the eye, has travelled only six decades: the generation looking up tonight is the very same one that was alive when the journey began.

Where it is and when to see it

Eta Serpens 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 36° above the horizon.
From New York it culminates about 46° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 59° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere south of 87° N.

It ranks no. 2 in brightness among the 65 stars of Serpens in our catalogue. To find it, start from Unukalhai, the brightest: it lies about 40° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 61 years ago.

Find it on the sky map

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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 Eta Serpens

Constellation: Serpens
Apparent magnitude: 3.23
Distance: 60.5 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 275.328° · Dec -2.899°
Catalogue: HIP 89962 · HD 168723

A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.

Other stars in Serpens

Serpens has 65 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 65 stars in Serpens