τ Cancri (tau Cancri)
τ Cancri is a giant star in the constellation of Cancer.
τ Cancri visual magnitude is 5.43. Because of its reltive faintness, τ Cancri should be visible only from locations with dark skyes, while it is not visible at all from skyes affected by light pollution.
The table below summarizes the key facts about τ Cancri:
Celestial coordinates and finder chart of τ Cancri
τ 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 τ Cancri are provided in the following table:
The simplified sky map below shows the position of τ Cancri in the sky:
Visibility of τ Cancri from your location
Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London
Today's τ Cancri (tau Cancri) rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
Digitized Sky Survey image of τ Cancri
The image below is a photograph of τ Cancri 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 τ Cancri is -0.032 arcsec per year in Right Ascension and 0.002 arcsec per year in Declination and the associated displacement for the next 10000 years is represented with the red arrow.
Distance of τ Cancri from the Sun and relative movement
τ Cancri is distant 259.55 light years from the Sun and it is moving towards the Sun at the speed of 13 kilometers per second.
Spectral properties of τ Cancri
τ Cancri belongs to spectral class G8 and has a luminosity class of III corresponding to a giant star.
The red dot in the diagram below shows where τ Cancri is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.
