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A Complete Guide to the Solar System and the Night Sky
public LocationGreenwich, United Kingdom
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 5:26 
Transit: 12:55 
Sunset: 20:25
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All Constellations » Fornax » 

τ Fornacis (tau Fornacis)

Altitude: -64.1°   Azimuth: 30.5°   Direction: North-North-East

τ Fornacis is a hypergiant star in the constellation of Fornax.

τ Fornacis visual magnitude is 6.01. Because of its reltive faintness, τ Fornacis should be visible only from locations with dark skies, while it is not visible at all from skies affected by light pollution.

The proper motion of τ Fornacis is 0.025 arcsec per year in Right Ascension and 0.023 arcsec per year in Declination and the associated displacement for the next 10000 years is represented with the red arrow.

Image of τ Fornacis (tau Fornacis) star
DSS2 image of τ Fornacis. The red arrow shows the motion of τ Fornacis during the next 10000 years (4.17 arcmin in Right Ascension and 3.83 arcmin in declination);

Key facts about τ Fornacis

6.01
Hypergiant

τ Fornacis (tau Fornacis) is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom.

Altitude: -64.1°
Azimuth: 30.5°
Direction: North-North-East

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of τ Fornacis

τ Fornacis 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 τ Fornacis are provided in the following table:

03h 38m 47s
-27° 56’ 35”
224.16°
-53.08°
Fornax

The simplified sky map below shows the position of τ Fornacis in the sky:

Finder chart τ Fornacis (tau Fornacis) star
Simplified finder chart for τ Fornacis (tau Fornacis).

Visibility of τ Fornacis from your location

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

Today's τ Fornacis (tau Fornacis) rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 117.9°
Max altitude: 10.6°
Azimuth: 242.1°

Distance of τ Fornacis from the Sun and relative movement

τ Fornacis is distant 417.41 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 39 kilometers per second.

128.04 pc
417.41 ly
39 km/s
0.025 arcsec/year
0.023 arcsec/year

Spectral properties of τ Fornacis

τ Fornacis belongs to spectral class A0 and has a luminosity class of V corresponding to a hypergiant star.

0.47
A0V
10382K

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

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

Alternative designations of τ Fornacis

τ Fornacis
(tau Fornacis)
SAO168701
SAO168701