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A Complete Guide to the Solar System and the Night Sky
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public Observing fromLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
north SunriseRise: 7:48  
clear_day Transit: 11:49  
SunsetSet: 15:50 south
sunny DaytimeWhat's Visible Now?
All Constellations » Hercules » 

53 Herculis

Altitude: 51.3°   Azimuth: 102.6°   Direction: East-South-East

53 Herculis is a double hypergiant star in the constellation of Hercules.

53 Herculis visual magnitude is 5.32. Because of its reltive faintness, 53 Herculis 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 53 Herculis:

5.32
Hypergiant

53 Herculis is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt.

Altitude: 51.3°
Azimuth: 102.6°
Direction: East-South-East

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of 53 Herculis

53 Herculis 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 53 Herculis are provided in the following table:

16h 52m 58s
+31° 42’ 06”
53.39°
37.87°
Hercules

The simplified sky map below shows the position of 53 Herculis in the sky:

Finder chart 53 Herculis star
Simplified finder chart for 53 Herculis.

Visibility of 53 Herculis 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 53 Herculis 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: 58.3°
Max altitude: 70.2°
Azimuth: 301.7°

Digitized Sky Survey image of 53 Herculis

The image below is a photograph of 53 Herculis 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 53 Herculis is -0.091 arcsec per year in Right Ascension and -0.017 arcsec per year in Declination and the associated displacement for the next 1000 years is represented with the red arrow.

Image of 53 Herculis star
DSS2 image of 53 Herculis. The red arrow shows the motion of 53 Herculis during the next 1000 years (-1.52 arcmin in Right Ascension and -0.28 arcmin in declination);

Distance of 53 Herculis from the Sun and relative movement

53 Herculis is distant 97.90 light years from the Sun and it is moving towards the Sun at the speed of 22 kilometers per second.

30.03 pc
97.90 ly
-22 km/s
-0.091 arcsec/year
-0.017 arcsec/year

Spectral properties of 53 Herculis

53 Herculis belongs to spectral class F0 and has a luminosity class of V corresponding to a hypergiant star.

2.93
F0V
7526K

The red dot in the diagram below shows where 53 Herculis is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

HR Diagram
H-R diagram showing the position of 53 Herculis. Attribution: Richard Powell / CC BY-SA

53 Herculis star system properties

53 Herculis is a visual double star which can be observed only with the help of very large telescopes. The table below shows key information about the 53 Herculis double sysyem:

5.32
12.02
6.7
70.9 arcsec

Alternative designations of 53 Herculis

53 Herculis
SAO65627
SAO65627