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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 7:08 
Transit: 12:13 
Sunset: 17:20
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All Constellations » Centaurus » 

ε Centauri (epsilon Centauri)

Below the horizon.  Never rises today
Alt: -51.84°   Az: 119.53°   Direction: East-South-East

ε Centauri is a variable and double giant star of spectral class B1 in the constellation of Centaurus.

ε Centauri visual magnitude is 2.3. Because of its brightness, ε Centauri is clearly visible to the naked eye when observed from locations with dark skies, and should be also quite easily visible from light polluted areas.

Image of ε Centauri (epsilon Centauri) star
DSS2 image of ε Centauri. The red arrow shows the motion of ε Centauri during the next 10000 years (-4.67 arcmin in Right Ascension and -2.67 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

13h 41m 29s
-53° 35’ 34”
16h 19m 43s
06h 01m 13s

J2000

13h 39m 53s
-53° 27’ 59”

Galactic Coordinates

310.19°
8.72°

Finder Chart

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Finder chart for ε Centauri (epsilon Centauri).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

2.3
Giant

-3.01
B1III
14087K

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

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

Star System Properties

ε Centauri 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 ε Centauri double sysyem:

2.3
10.7
8.4
36.9 arcsec

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

ε Centauri is distant 375.58 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 3 kilometers per second.

115.21
375.58
3 km/s
-0.028 arcsec/y
-0.016"/y

Alternative Designations

ε Centauri
(epsilon Centauri)
SAO241047
SAO241047

Visibility from Your Location

ε Centauri (epsilon Centauri) is currently not visible from Greenwich, UK