Star profile
12 Aquilae
What is 12 Aquilae
12 Aquilae glows with the steady orange of a K-type giant, a quiet ember suspended 144 light-years away on the southern flank of the Eagle, where the Milky Way thickens toward its heart. The light arriving tonight left the star in the early 1880s, when refracting telescopes were just beginning to chart the summer sky. It crosses a dust-rich field that most observers only notice through binoculars.
Where it is and when to see it
12 Aquilae 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 33° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 44° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 62° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere south of 84° N.
It ranks no. 10 in brightness among the 72 stars of Aquila in our catalogue. To find it, start from Altair, the brightest: it lies about 19° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 140 years ago.
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Astronomical data for 12 Aquilae
- Constellation
- Aquila
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.02
- Distance
- 144.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 285.420° · Dec -5.739°
- Catalogue
- HIP 93429 · HD 176678
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Other stars in Aquila
Aquila has 72 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AltairAlpha Aquilae0.76
- TarazedGamma Aquilae2.72
- OkabZeta Aquilae2.99
- AlshainBeta Aquilae3.71
- Eta Aquilae3.87
- Epsilon Aquilae4.02
- 71 Aquilae4.31
- Iota Aquilae4.36