Star profile
60 Ceti
What is 60 Ceti
60 Ceti is a white A-class star anchored in the diffuse body of the celestial Whale, 281 light-years off. Its atmosphere, much hotter than the Sun's, prints a clean bluish tone on its glow, barely perceptible to the naked eye at magnitude 5.42. When that light set out around the mid-18th century, European astronomy had just discovered stellar aberration and was beginning to survey the sky with new instruments.
Where it is and when to see it
60 Ceti lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is October, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it culminates about 39° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 49° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 56° above the horizon.
It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from nearly the whole planet.
It ranks no. 48 in brightness among the 111 stars of Cetus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Diphda, the brightest: it lies about 27° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 280 years ago.
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Astronomical data for 60 Ceti
- Constellation
- Cetus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.42
- Distance
- 281.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 30.799° · Dec 0.129°
- Catalogue
- HIP 9589 · HD 12573
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Other stars in Cetus
Cetus has 111 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- DiphdaBeta Ceti2.04
- MenkarAlpha Ceti2.54
- Eta Ceti3.46
- 50 Ceti5.41
- 70 Ceti5.42
- 39 Ceti5.42
- HIP 110295.43
- 57 Ceti5.43