Alkes - α Crateris (alpha Crateris)

Alkes, also designated as α Crateris (alpha Crateris), is a hypergiant star in the constellation of Crater.

Alkes visual magnitude is 4.08. Because of its moderate brightness, Alkes should be easily visible from locations with dark skyes, while it can be barely visible, or not visible at all, from skyes affected by light pollution.

The table below summarizes the key facts about Alkes:

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of Alkes

Alkes 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 Alkes are provided in the following table:

The simplified sky map below shows the position of Alkes in the sky:

Visibility of Alkes from your location

Today's Alkes - α Crateris (alpha Crateris) rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Digitized Sky Survey image of Alkes

The image below is a photograph of Alkes 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 Alkes is -0.46 arcsec per year in Right Ascension and 0.13 arcsec per year in Declination and the associated displacement for the next 1000 years is represented with the red arrow.

Distance of Alkes from the Sun and relative movement

Alkes is distant 174.24 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 47 kilometers per second.

Spectral properties of Alkes

Alkes belongs to spectral class K0 and has a luminosity class of III corresponding to a hypergiant star.

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

Alternative designations of Alkes