Star profile
Xi Pavonis
Cool red starWhat is Xi Pavonis
Xi Pavonis is a red M-type giant, cool and enormous, some 469 light-years away in the fiery bird of the southern sky. Its surface, below 4,000 degrees, radiates a coppery light that contrasts vividly with its bluer neighbours under the eyepiece. It is a star in a late stage of life: its outer layers have already swollen to dimensions that would swallow the inner orbits of a system like ours, and it drives a warm stellar wind that slowly returns matter to space.
Where it is and when to see it
Xi Pavonis 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 never rises above the horizon.
- From New York it never rises above the horizon.
- From Sydney it never sets and culminates about 62° up.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 29° N.
It ranks no. 10 in brightness among the 44 stars of Pavo in our catalogue. To find it, start from Peacock, the brightest: it lies about 16° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 470 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Xi Pavonis
- Constellation
- Pavo
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.35
- Distance
- 468.7 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 275.807° · Dec -61.494°
- Catalogue
- HIP 90098 · HD 168339
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Other stars in Pavo
Pavo has 44 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- PeacockAlpha Pavonis1.94
- Beta Pavonis3.42
- Delta Pavonis3.55
- Gamma Pavonis4.21
- Lambda Pavonis4.22
- Pi Pavonis4.33
- Kappa Pavonis4.40
- Nu Pavonis4.63