Your guide to the Solar System and the night sky
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🌎  Observing from: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
🌅 Sunrise: 6:38  ☀️ Transit: 13:03  🌅 Sunset: 19:28

λ Hydrae (lambda Hydrae)

λ Hydrae is a multiple hypergiant star in the constellation of Hydra.

λ Hydrae visual magnitude is 3.61. Because of its moderate brightness, λ Hydrae 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 λ Hydrae:

3.61
Hypergiant
λ Hydrae (lambda Hydrae) is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]. Altitude: 25°.

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of λ Hydrae

λ Hydrae 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 λ Hydrae are provided in the following table:

10h 10m 35s
-12° 21’ 15”
253.01°
34.5°
Hydra

The simplified sky map below shows the position of λ Hydrae in the sky:

Finder chart λ Hydrae (lambda Hydrae) star
Simplified finder chart for λ Hydrae (lambda Hydrae).

Visibility of λ Hydrae from your location

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

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

Azimuth: 102.4°
Max altitude: 26.2°
Azimuth: 257.6°
λ Hydrae (lambda Hydrae) is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom

Digitized Sky Survey image of λ Hydrae

The image below is a photograph of λ Hydrae 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 λ Hydrae is -0.202 arcsec per year in Right Ascension and -0.089 arcsec per year in Declination and the associated displacement for the next 1000 years is represented with the red arrow.

Image of λ Hydrae (lambda Hydrae) star
DSS2 image of λ Hydrae. The red arrow shows the motion of λ Hydrae during the next 1000 years (-3.37 arcmin in Right Ascension and -1.48 arcmin in declination);

Distance of λ Hydrae from the Sun and relative movement

λ Hydrae is distant 114.63 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 19 kilometers per second.

35.16 pc
114.63 ly
19 km/s
-0.202 arcsec/year
-0.089 arcsec/year

Spectral properties of λ Hydrae

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

0.88
K0III
4719K

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

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

λ Hydrae star system properties

λ Hydrae 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 λ Hydrae double sysyem:

3.61
11.31
7.7
112.2 arcsec

Alternative designations of λ Hydrae

λ Hydrae
(lambda Hydrae)
SAO155785
SAO155785