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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
SunriseRise: 6:04  
clear_day Transit: 12:06  
SunsetSet: 18:09
sleep NighttimeWhat's Visible Now?
All Constellations » Cancer » 

ι Cancri (iota Cancri)

Altitude: 13.8°   Azimuth: 299.1°   Direction: West-North-West

ι Cancri is a variable and double giant star in the constellation of Cancer.

ι Cancri visual magnitude is 4.02. Because of its moderate brightness, ι Cancri should be easily visible from locations with dark skies, while it can be barely visible, or not visible at all, from skies affected by light pollution.

The proper motion of ι Cancri is -0.025 arcsec per year in Right Ascension and -0.042 arcsec per year in Declination and the associated displacement for the next 10000 years is represented with the red arrow.

Image of ι Cancri (iota Cancri) star
DSS2 image of ι Cancri. The red arrow shows the motion of ι Cancri during the next 10000 years (-4.17 arcmin in Right Ascension and -7.00 arcmin in declination);

Key facts about ι Cancri

4.02
Giant

ι Cancri (iota Cancri) is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt.

Altitude: 13.8°
Azimuth: 299.1°
Direction: West-North-West

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of ι Cancri

ι Cancri 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 ι Cancri are provided in the following table:

08h 46m 41s
+28° 45’ 36”
195.88°
36.54°
Cancer

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

Finder chart ι Cancri (iota Cancri) star
Simplified finder chart for ι Cancri (iota Cancri).

Visibility of ι Cancri from your location

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

Today's ι Cancri (iota Cancri) rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 61.2°
Max altitude: 67.3°
Azimuth: 298.8°

Distance of ι Cancri from the Sun and relative movement

ι Cancri is distant 297.99 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 16 kilometers per second.

91.41 pc
297.99 ly
16 km/s
-0.025 arcsec/year
-0.042 arcsec/year

Spectral properties of ι Cancri

ι Cancri belongs to spectral class G7 and has a luminosity class of III corresponding to a giant star.

-0.78
G7III
4719K

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

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

ι Cancri star system properties

ι Cancri is a visual double star which can be observed with binoculars or small telescopes. The table below shows key information about the ι Cancri double sysyem:

4.02
6.52
2.5
30.4 arcsec

Alternative designations of ι Cancri

ι Cancri
(iota Cancri)
SAO80416
SAO80416