Star profile
Kappa Cygni
What is Kappa Cygni
Kappa Cygni is a yellow G9 giant that has burned through its core hydrogen and swollen to almost nine solar radii, shining 47 times brighter than the Sun from 124 light-years away. Every August its corner of the sky becomes the apparent origin of the Kappa Cygnids, a small meteor shower famous for slow, bright fireballs. A quiet star that lends its name to a kindled phenomenon.
Where it is and when to see it
Kappa Cygni lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is August, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never sets and culminates about 88° up.
- From New York it never sets and culminates about 77° up.
- From Sydney it culminates about 3° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 37° S.
It ranks no. 10 in brightness among the 137 stars of Cygnus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Deneb, the brightest: it lies about 16° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 120 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Kappa Cygni
- Constellation
- Cygnus
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.80
- Distance
- 124.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 289.276° · Dec 53.368°
- Catalogue
- HIP 94779 · HD 181276
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Other stars in Cygnus
Cygnus has 137 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- DenebAlpha Cygni1.25
- SadrGamma Cygni2.23
- AljanahEpsilon Cygni2.48
- Xi Cygni3.72
- Tau Cygni3.74
- Iota 2 Cygni3.76
- 31 Cygni3.80
- Eta Cygni3.89