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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: 7:40  
clear_day Transit: 11:47  
SunsetSet: 15:53 south
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All Constellations » Hercules » 

74 Herculis

Altitude: 15.8°   Azimuth: 328.2°   Direction: North-North-West

74 Herculis is a variable hypergiant star in the constellation of Hercules.

74 Herculis visual magnitude is 5.59. Because of its reltive faintness, 74 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 74 Herculis:

5.59
Hypergiant

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

Altitude: 15.8°
Azimuth: 328.2°
Direction: North-North-West

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of 74 Herculis

74 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 74 Herculis are provided in the following table:

17h 20m 21s
+46° 14’ 26”
72.16°
34.58°
Hercules

The simplified sky map below shows the position of 74 Herculis in the sky:

Finder chart 74 Herculis star
Simplified finder chart for 74 Herculis.

Visibility of 74 Herculis from your location

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

74 Herculis is circumpolar and transits at 12:43 UTC (altitude: 84.8°)

Digitized Sky Survey image of 74 Herculis

The image below is a photograph of 74 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 74 Herculis is -0.029 arcsec per year in Right Ascension and 0.043 arcsec per year in Declination and the associated displacement for the next 10000 years is represented with the red arrow.

Image of 74 Herculis star
DSS2 image of 74 Herculis. The red arrow shows the motion of 74 Herculis during the next 10000 years (-4.83 arcmin in Right Ascension and 7.17 arcmin in declination);

Distance of 74 Herculis from the Sun and relative movement

74 Herculis is distant 575.97 light years from the Sun and it is moving towards the Sun at the speed of 57 kilometers per second.

176.68 pc
575.97 ly
-57 km/s
-0.029 arcsec/year
0.043 arcsec/year

Spectral properties of 74 Herculis

74 Herculis belongs to spectral class M0 and has a luminosity class of III corresponding to a hypergiant star.

-0.65
M0III
3691K

The red dot in the diagram below shows where 74 Herculis is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

HR Diagram
H-R diagram showing the position of 74 Herculis. Attribution: Richard Powell / CC BY-SA

Alternative designations of 74 Herculis

74 Herculis
SAO46645
SAO46645