Your Guide to the Solar System and the Night Sky
Donate now! You'll help cover server costs, enhance the site and keep it ad-free.
public Observing fromLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
north SunriseRise: 4:46  
clear_day Transit: 12:56  
SunsetSet: 21:07 south
sunny DaytimeWhat's Visible Now
All Constellations » Cancer » 

54 Cancri

Altitude: 45.1°   Azimuth: 131.1°   Direction: South-East

54 Cancri is a double main-sequence star in the constellation of Cancer.

54 Cancri visual magnitude is 6.38. Because of its reltive faintness, 54 Cancri 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 54 Cancri:

6.38
Main-sequence

54 Cancri is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt.

Altitude: 45.1°
Azimuth: 131.1°
Direction: South-East

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of 54 Cancri

54 Cancri is situated close to the celestial equator, as such, it is at least partly visible from both hemispheres in certain times of the year. Celestial coordinates for the J2000 equinox as well as galactic coordinates of 54 Cancri are provided in the following table:

08h 51m 01s
+15° 21’ 02”
211.81°
33.26°
Cancer

The simplified sky map below shows the position of 54 Cancri in the sky:

Finder chart 54 Cancri star
Simplified finder chart for 54 Cancri.

Visibility of 54 Cancri 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 54 Cancri 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: 74.6°
Max altitude: 53.9°
Azimuth: 285.4°
54 Cancri is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom

Digitized Sky Survey image of 54 Cancri

The image below is a photograph of 54 Cancri 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 54 Cancri is -0.112 arcsec per year in Right Ascension and 0.075 arcsec per year in Declination and the associated displacement for the next 1000 years is represented with the red arrow.

Image of 54 Cancri star
DSS2 image of 54 Cancri. The red arrow shows the motion of 54 Cancri during the next 1000 years (-1.87 arcmin in Right Ascension and 1.25 arcmin in declination);

Distance of 54 Cancri from the Sun and relative movement

54 Cancri is distant 130.30 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 45 kilometers per second.

39.97 pc
130.30 ly
45 km/s
-0.112 arcsec/year
0.075 arcsec/year

Spectral properties of 54 Cancri

54 Cancri belongs to spectral class G1 and has a luminosity class of V corresponding to a main-sequence star.

3.37
G1V
5815K

The red dot in the diagram below shows where 54 Cancri is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

HR Diagram
H-R diagram showing the position of 54 Cancri. Attribution: Richard Powell / CC BY-SA

54 Cancri star system properties

54 Cancri 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 54 Cancri double sysyem:

6.38
7.78
1.4
0.1 arcsec

Alternative designations of 54 Cancri

SAO98168
SAO98168