Star profile
Nu Pavonis
Variable starWhat is Nu Pavonis
Nu Pavonis is a blue B-type star in the Peacock about 439 light-years away, whose brightness flickers with subtle variations. It belongs to the brood of hot suns that adorn this relatively young southern constellation, traced in the sixteenth century by Dutch navigators Pieter Keyser and Frederick de Houtman as they first charted the deep southern skies. Its fine, bluish light travels from a region of the firmament where almost every bright star received a modern name, far removed from the classical tradition of the north.
Where it is and when to see it
Nu 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: 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 Nu Pavonis
- Constellation
- Pavo
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.63
- Distance
- 439.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 277.843° · Dec -62.278°
- Catalogue
- HIP 90797 · HD 169978
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
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
- Pi Pavonis4.33
- Xi Pavonis4.35
- Kappa Pavonis4.40
- Phi 1 Pavonis4.75
- HIP 920244.78