Menkent - θ Centauri (theta Centauri)
Menkent, also designated as θ Centauri (theta Centauri), is a double hypergiant star in the constellation of Centaurus.
Menkent visual magnitude is 2.06, making it the 55th brightest star in the sky. Thanks to its high brightness, Menkent is clearly visible when observed from locations with dark skyes, and should be also quite easily visible from light polluted areas.
The table below summarizes the key facts about Menkent:
Menkent - θ Centauri (theta Centauri) is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom .
Altitude: -65.7°
Azimuth: 298.0°
Direction: West-North-West
Celestial coordinates and finder chart of Menkent
Menkent is situated south of the celestial equator, as such, it is more easily visible from the southern hemisphere. Celestial coordinates for the J2000 equinox as well as galactic coordinates of Menkent are provided in the following table:
The simplified sky map below shows the position of Menkent in the sky:

Visibility of Menkent from your location
Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London
Today's Menkent - θ Centauri (theta Centauri) rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
Digitized Sky Survey image of Menkent
The image below is a photograph of Menkent 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 Menkent is -0.519 arcsec per year in Right Ascension and -0.519 arcsec per year in Declination and the associated displacement for the next 1000 years is represented with the red arrow.

Distance of Menkent from the Sun and relative movement
Menkent is distant 60.91 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 1 kilometers per second.
Spectral properties of Menkent
Menkent belongs to spectral class K0 and has a luminosity class of III corresponding to a hypergiant star.
The red dot in the diagram below shows where Menkent is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

Menkent star system properties
Menkent 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 Menkent double sysyem: