Your Guide to the Solar System and the Night Sky
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public Observing fromLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
north SunriseRise: 4:46  
clear_day Transit: 12:57  
SunsetSet: 21:08 south
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All Constellations » Cygnus » 

42 Cygni

Altitude: -1.3°   Azimuth: 10.5°   Direction: North

42 Cygni is a supergiant star in the constellation of Cygnus.

42 Cygni visual magnitude is 5.88. Because of its reltive faintness, 42 Cygni should be visible only from locations with dark skyes, while it is not visible at all from skyes affected by light pollution.

The table below summarizes the key facts about 42 Cygni:

5.88
Supergiant

42 Cygni is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt.

Altitude: -1.3°
Azimuth: 10.5°
Direction: North

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of 42 Cygni

42 Cygni is situated north of the celestial equator, as such, it is more easily visible from the northern hemisphere. Celestial coordinates for the J2000 equinox as well as galactic coordinates of 42 Cygni are provided in the following table:

20h 29m 20s
+36° 27’ 16”
75.85°
-1.47°
Cygnus

The simplified sky map below shows the position of 42 Cygni in the sky:

Finder chart 42 Cygni star
Simplified finder chart for 42 Cygni.

Visibility of 42 Cygni from your location

Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London

Today's 42 Cygni rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 53.5°
Max altitude: 75.0°
Azimuth: 306.5°
42 Cygni is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom

Digitized Sky Survey image of 42 Cygni

The image below is a photograph of 42 Cygni from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2 - see the credits section) taken in the red channel. The area of sky represented in the image is 0.5x0.5 degrees (30x30 arcmins). The proper motion of 42 Cygni is 0.004 arcsec per year in Right Ascension and -0.001 arcsec per year in Declination and the associated displacement for the next 100000 years is represented with the red arrow.

Image of 42 Cygni star
DSS2 image of 42 Cygni. The red arrow shows the motion of 42 Cygni during the next 100000 years (6.67 arcmin in Right Ascension and -1.67 arcmin in declination);

Distance of 42 Cygni from the Sun and relative movement

42 Cygni is distant 1,689.12 light years from the Sun and it is moving towards the Sun at the speed of 18 kilometers per second.

518.13 pc
1,689.12 ly
-18 km/s
0.004 arcsec/year
-0.001 arcsec/year

Spectral properties of 42 Cygni

42 Cygni belongs to spectral class A1 and has a luminosity class of I corresponding to a supergiant star.

-2.69
A1I
6300K

The red dot in the diagram below shows where 42 Cygni is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

HR Diagram
H-R diagram showing the position of 42 Cygni. Attribution: Richard Powell / CC BY-SA

Alternative designations of 42 Cygni

SAO70096
SAO70096