Your Guide to the Solar System and the Night Sky
This site is free and ad-free thanks to the support of our users. If you can, please consider a donation.
public Observing fromLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
north SunriseRise: 6:44  
clear_day Transit: 12:51  
SunsetSet: 18:57 south
sunny DaytimeWhat's Visible Now
All Constellations » Taurus » 

Maia - 20 Tauri

Altitude: 3.6°   Azimuth: 305.8°   Direction: North-West

Maia, also designated as 20 Tauri , is a variable giant star in the constellation of Taurus.

Maia visual magnitude is 3.87. Because of its moderate brightness, Maia 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 Maia:

3.87
Giant

Maia - 20 Tauri is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt.

Altitude: 3.6°
Azimuth: 305.8°
Direction: North-West

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of Maia

Maia 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 Maia are provided in the following table:

03h 45m 49s
+24° 22’ 04”
166.17°
-23.51°
Taurus

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

Finder chart Maia - 20 Tauri star
Simplified finder chart for Maia - 20 Tauri.

Visibility of Maia 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 Maia - 20 Tauri 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: 65.6°
Max altitude: 62.9°
Azimuth: 294.4°

Digitized Sky Survey image of Maia

The image below is a photograph of Maia 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 Maia is 0.02 arcsec per year in Right Ascension and -0.046 arcsec per year in Declination and the associated displacement for the next 10000 years is represented with the red arrow.

Image of Maia - 20 Tauri star
DSS2 image of Maia. The red arrow shows the motion of Maia during the next 10000 years (3.33 arcmin in Right Ascension and -7.67 arcmin in declination);

Distance of Maia from the Sun and relative movement

Maia is distant 359.82 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 8 kilometers per second.

110.38 pc
359.82 ly
8 km/s
0.02 arcsec/year
-0.046 arcsec/year

Spectral properties of Maia

Maia belongs to spectral class B8 and has a luminosity class of III corresponding to a giant star.

-1.34
B8III
11092K

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

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

Alternative designations of Maia

Maia
SAO76155
SAO76155