Your guide to the Solar System and the night sky
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🌎  Observing from: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
🌅 Sunrise: 6:45  ☀️ Transit: 13:03  🌅 Sunset: 19:23

η Cancri (eta Cancri)

η Cancri is a giant star in the constellation of Cancer.

η Cancri visual magnitude is 5.33. Because of its reltive faintness, η Cancri 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 η Cancri:

5.33
Giant
η Cancri (eta Cancri) is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change].

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of η Cancri

η Cancri 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 η Cancri are provided in the following table:

08h 32m 42s
+20° 26’ 27”
204.33°
31.06°
Cancer

The simplified sky map below shows the position of η Cancri in the sky:

Finder chart η Cancri (eta Cancri) star
Simplified finder chart for η Cancri (eta Cancri).

Visibility of η Cancri from your location

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

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

Azimuth: 69.6°
Max altitude: 59.0°
Azimuth: 290.4°
η Cancri (eta Cancri) is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom

Digitized Sky Survey image of η Cancri

The image below is a photograph of η Cancri 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 η Cancri is -0.047 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 η Cancri (eta Cancri) star
DSS2 image of η Cancri. The red arrow shows the motion of η Cancri during the next 10000 years (-7.83 arcmin in Right Ascension and -7.17 arcmin in declination);

Distance of η Cancri from the Sun and relative movement

η Cancri is distant 311.66 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 24 kilometers per second.

95.60 pc
311.66 ly
24 km/s
-0.047 arcsec/year
-0.043 arcsec/year

Spectral properties of η Cancri

η Cancri belongs to spectral class K3 and has a luminosity class of III corresponding to a giant star.

0.43
K3III
4213K

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

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

Alternative designations of η Cancri

η Cancri
(eta Cancri)
SAO80243
SAO80243