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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
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All Constellations » Centaurus » 

π Centauri (pi Centauri)

Below the horizon.  Never rises today
Alt: -19.29°   Az: 161.34°   Direction: South-South-East

π Centauri is a double main-sequence star of spectral class B5 in the constellation of Centaurus.

π Centauri visual magnitude is 3.89. Because of its moderate brightness, π Centauri is easily visible to the naked eye from locations with dark skies, while it might be barely visible, or not visible at all, from light-polluted skies.

Image of π Centauri (pi Centauri) star
DSS2 image of π Centauri. The red arrow shows the motion of π Centauri during the next 10000 years (-6.00 arcmin in Right Ascension and -1.00 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

11h 22m 09s
-54° 37’ 44”
21h 54m 13s
09h 16m 22s

J2000

11h 21m 00s
-54° 29’ 27”

Galactic Coordinates

289.96°
6.09°

Finder Chart

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Finder chart for π Centauri (pi Centauri).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

3.89
Main-sequence

-1.08
B5V
12489K

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

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

Star System Properties

π Centauri 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 π Centauri double sysyem:

3.89
4.59
0.7
0.2 arcsec

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

π Centauri is distant 321.18 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 9 kilometers per second.

98.52
321.18
9 km/s
-0.036 arcsec/y
-0.006"/y

Alternative Designations

π Centauri
(pi Centauri)
SAO238986
SAO238986

Visibility from Your Location

π Centauri (pi Centauri) is currently not visible from Greenwich, UK