Star profile
Beta Scutum
Highly luminous starWhat is Beta Scutum
Beta Scuti is a yellow bright giant of the Shield, fifty-five times wider than the Sun and pouring out the light of around 1,300. It is also a spectroscopic binary: every 2.3 years a much fainter blue companion completes one orbit around the primary on a markedly eccentric path. At 916 light-years, its light crosses the quiet band of the summer Milky Way before reaching us.
Where it is and when to see it
Beta Scutum lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is July, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it culminates about 34° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 45° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 61° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 85° N.
It ranks no. 2 in brightness among the 18 stars of Scutum in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alpha Scutum, the brightest: it lies about 5° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 920 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Beta Scutum
- Constellation
- Scutum
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.22
- Distance
- 916.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 281.794° · Dec -4.748°
- Catalogue
- HIP 92175 · HD 173764
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Other stars in Scutum
Scutum has 18 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Scutum3.85
- Zeta Scutum4.66
- Gamma Scutum4.67
- Delta Scutum4.70
- Eta Scutum4.83
- Epsilon Scutum4.88
- HIP 928145.08
- HIP 911055.12