Star profile
Eta Cygni
What is Eta Cygni
Eta Cygni is an orange giant 135 light-years away, but its quiet fame comes from what hides nearby: barely half a degree away glows HD 226868, the visible companion of Cygnus X-1, the first stellar black hole confirmed by science. Eta Cygni is the binocular beacon astronomers have used for decades to point toward that invisible abyss in the Swan.
Where it is and when to see it
Eta 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: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.
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The signature wall
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A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.
Astronomical data for Eta Cygni
- Constellation
- Cygnus
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.89
- Distance
- 135.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 299.077° · Dec 35.083°
- Catalogue
- HIP 98110 · HD 188947
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
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
- Iota 2 Cygni3.76
- Kappa Cygni3.80
- 31 Cygni3.80
- Nu Cygni3.94
- 32 Cygni3.96