56 Herculis

56 Herculis is a double giant star in the constellation of Hercules.

56 Herculis visual magnitude is 6.08. Because of its reltive faintness, 56 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 56 Herculis:

Color of 56 Herculis ⬤

Magnitude of 56 Herculis 6.08

Class Giant

VISIBILITY RIGHT NOW 56 Herculis is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]. Altitude: 63°.

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of 56 Herculis

56 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 56 Herculis are provided in the following table:

Right Ascension J2000 16h 55m 02s

Declination J2000 +25° 43’ 50”

Galactic Longitude 46.27°

Galactic Latitude 36.01°

Constellation Hercules

The simplified sky map below shows the position of 56 Herculis in the sky:

Simplified finder chart for 56 Herculis.

Visibility of 56 Herculis from your location

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

Today's 56 Herculis rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 64.3° RISE 20:19

Max altitude: 64.3° TRANSIT 4:49

Azimuth: 295.7° SET 13:15

RIGHT NOW 56 Herculis is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom

Digitized Sky Survey image of 56 Herculis

The image below is a photograph of 56 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 56 Herculis is 0.014 arcsec per year in Right Ascension and -0.021 arcsec per year in Declination and the associated displacement for the next 10000 years is represented with the red arrow.

DSS2 image of 56 Herculis. The red arrow shows the motion of 56 Herculis during the next 10000 years (2.33 arcmin in Right Ascension and -3.50 arcmin in declination);

Distance of 56 Herculis from the Sun and relative movement

56 Herculis is distant 456.58 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 1 kilometers per second.

Distance (parsec) 140.06 pc

Distance (light year) 456.58 ly

Heliocentric radial velocity 1 km/s

Proper Motion RA 0.014 arcsec/year

Proper Motion Dec -0.021 arcsec/year

Spectral properties of 56 Herculis

56 Herculis belongs to spectral class G5 and has a luminosity class of III corresponding to a giant star.

Absolute magnitude 0.35

Spectral Type G5III

Color Index (B-V) 0.92

Temperature of 56 Herculis 4943K

The red dot in the diagram below shows where 56 Herculis is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

H-R diagram showing the position of 56 Herculis. Attribution: Richard Powell / CC BY-SA

56 Herculis star system properties

56 Herculis is a visual double star which can be observed with the help of small or medium telescopes. The table below shows key information about the 56 Herculis double sysyem:

Main star magnitude 6.08

Secondary star magnitude 10.68

Magnitude difference 4.6

Separation 17.9 arcsec

Alternative designations of 56 Herculis

Flamsteed designation 56 Herculis

Henry Draper Catalogue HD152863

SAO Catalogue SAO84692

Hipparcos Catalogue HIP82780

Durchmusterung Catalogue BD+25 3156

Aitken Double Star Catalogue ADS10259

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In Evidence

Other stars in Hercules