Your guide to the Solar System and the night sky
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🌎  Observing from: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
🌅 Sunrise: 6:03  ☀️ Transit: 12:06  🌅 Sunset: 18:09

72 Herculis

72 Herculis is a variable and multiple hypergiant star in the constellation of Hercules.

72 Herculis visual magnitude is 5.39. Because of its reltive faintness, 72 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 72 Herculis:

5.39
Hypergiant
72 Herculis is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change].

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of 72 Herculis

72 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 72 Herculis are provided in the following table:

17h 20m 39s
+32° 28’ 04”
55.88°
32.31°
Hercules

The simplified sky map below shows the position of 72 Herculis in the sky:

Finder chart 72 Herculis star
Simplified finder chart for 72 Herculis.

Visibility of 72 Herculis from your location

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

Today's 72 Herculis rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 57.5°
Max altitude: 71.0°
Azimuth: 302.5°
72 Herculis is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom

Digitized Sky Survey image of 72 Herculis

The image below is a photograph of 72 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 72 Herculis is 0.137 arcsec per year in Right Ascension and -1.041 arcsec per year in Declination and the associated displacement for the next 100 years is represented with the red arrow.

Image of 72 Herculis star
DSS2 image of 72 Herculis. The red arrow shows the motion of 72 Herculis during the next 100 years (0.23 arcmin in Right Ascension and -1.74 arcmin in declination);

Distance of 72 Herculis from the Sun and relative movement

72 Herculis is distant 46.92 light years from the Sun and it is moving towards the Sun at the speed of 78 kilometers per second.

14.39 pc
46.92 ly
-78 km/s
0.137 arcsec/year
-1.041 arcsec/year

Spectral properties of 72 Herculis

72 Herculis belongs to spectral class G0 and has a luminosity class of V corresponding to a hypergiant star.

4.60
G0V
5890K

The red dot in the diagram below shows where 72 Herculis is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

HR Diagram
H-R diagram showing the position of 72 Herculis. Attribution: Richard Powell / CC BY-SA

72 Herculis star system properties

72 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 72 Herculis double sysyem:

5.39
10.49
5.1
230 arcsec

Alternative designations of 72 Herculis

72 Herculis
SAO65963
SAO65963