Star profile
Kappa Cepheus
Hot blue starWhat is Kappa Cepheus
Kappa Cephei burns at three hundred and fifteen light-years, a blue B-type star within the silhouette of the Ethiopian king Cepheus, the father who handed Andromeda to the sea monster. Its surface reaches extreme temperatures that tint its light an icy white, nearly violet to the trained eye. It is one of the pieces drawing the inverted crown of the mythological sovereign near the celestial north pole.
Where it is and when to see it
Kappa Cepheus lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is November, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never sets and culminates about 64° up.
- From New York it never sets and culminates about 53° up.
- From Sydney it never rises above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 12° S.
It ranks no. 14 in brightness among the 95 stars of Cepheus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Alderamin, the brightest: it lies about 16° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 310 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Kappa Cepheus
- Constellation
- Cepheus
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.38
- Distance
- 314.9 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 302.222° · Dec 77.711°
- Catalogue
- HIP 99255 · HD 192907
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Other stars in Cepheus
Cepheus has 95 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AlderaminAlpha Cepheus2.45
- ErraiGamma Cepheus3.21
- AlfirkBeta Cepheus3.23
- HIP 53724.24
- Nu Cepheus4.25
- KurhahXi Cepheus4.26
- Pi Cepheus4.41
- HIP 1024314.52