Star profile
Zeta Pavonis
What is Zeta Pavonis
ζ Pavonis burns orange at 219 light-years, set in the plumage of the Peacock, a southern constellation named for Juno's sacred bird. It is a K-class giant — swollen and cool by stellar standards — pouring its light over skies most of humanity has never seen. The beam reaching us tonight left the Peacock when pendulum clocks were just beginning to measure time across Europe.
Where it is and when to see it
Zeta 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 52° up.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 19° N.
It ranks no. 6 in brightness among the 44 stars of Pavo in our catalogue. To find it, start from Peacock, the brightest: it lies about 18° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 220 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Zeta Pavonis
- Constellation
- Pavo
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.01
- Distance
- 218.5 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 280.759° · Dec -71.428°
- Catalogue
- HIP 91792 · HD 171759
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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
- Eta Pavonis3.61
- Epsilon Pavonis3.97
- Gamma Pavonis4.21
- Lambda Pavonis4.22
- Pi Pavonis4.33