Star profile
Eta Aquilae
Variable starWhat is Eta Aquilae
Eta Aquilae is one of the first Cepheids ever recognised: in 1784 Edward Pigott noticed her brightness changing rhythmically, and that pulse, repeated in hundreds of similar stars, would a century later become the ruler with which we measure the universe. Her light swings from magnitude 3.5 to 4.3 every 7.18 days: a yellow supergiant 3,400 times more luminous than the Sun, beating at 1,380 light-years.
Where it is and when to see it
Eta Aquilae lies in the northern 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 40° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 50° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 55° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 89° S.
It ranks no. 8 in brightness among the 72 stars of Aquila in our catalogue. To find it, start from Altair, the brightest: it lies about 8° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 1,400 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Eta Aquilae
- Constellation
- Aquila
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.87
- Distance
- 1382.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 298.118° · Dec 1.006°
- Catalogue
- HIP 97804 · HD 187929
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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
- Delta Aquilae3.36
- Lambda Aquilae3.43
- AlshainBeta Aquilae3.71
- Epsilon Aquilae4.02
- 12 Aquilae4.02