
Star profile
17 Cygni
What is 17 Cygni
17 Cygni is a relatively close neighbour, just 69 light-years away within the body of the Swan. Its F-type spectrum runs a touch hotter than the Sun's, and at magnitude 5 it forms a subtle but perceptible spark on clear nights along the Milky Way's band. The light reaching us tonight set out in the late 1950s, when the first satellites were just beginning to leave Earth's atmosphere.
Where it is and when to see it
17 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 culminates about 72° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 83° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 22° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 56° S.
It ranks no. 46 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 69 years ago.
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Astronomical data for 17 Cygni
- Constellation
- Cygnus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.00
- Distance
- 69.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 296.607° · Dec 33.728°
- Catalogue
- HIP 97295 · HD 187013
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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
- 22 Cygni4.95
- HIP 980734.98
- 2 Cygni4.99
- 20 Cygni5.03
- 68 Cygni5.04