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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 5:00 
Transit: 13:05 
Sunset: 21:10
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All Constellations » Ophiuchus » 

ξ Ophiuchi (xi Ophiuchi)

Above the horizon.  Rise: 18:48 | Tran: 22:50 | Set: 2:56
Alt: 17.32°   Az: 183.44°   Direction: South

ξ Ophiuchi is a double giant star of spectral class F1 in the constellation of Ophiuchus.

ξ Ophiuchi visual magnitude is 4.39. Because of its moderate brightness, ξ Ophiuchi 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 ξ Ophiuchi (xi Ophiuchi) star
DSS2 image of ξ Ophiuchi. The red arrow shows the motion of ξ Ophiuchi during the next 1000 years (3.87 arcmin in Right Ascension and -3.43 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

17h 22m 31s
-21° 08’ 10”
00h 14m 05s
17h 36m 37s

J2000

17h 21m 00s
-21° 06’ 46”

Galactic Coordinates

3.59°
8.92°

Finder Chart

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Finder chart for ξ Ophiuchi (xi Ophiuchi).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

4.39
Giant

3.19
F1III
6934K

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

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

Star System Properties

ξ Ophiuchi is a visual double star which can be observed with the help of small or medium telescopes. The table below shows key information about the ξ Ophiuchi double sysyem:

4.39
8.89
4.5
3.7 arcsec

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

ξ Ophiuchi is distant 56.72 light years from the Sun and it is moving towards the Sun at the speed of 9 kilometers per second.

17.40
56.72
-9 km/s
0.232 arcsec/y
-0.206"/y

Alternative Designations

ξ Ophiuchi
(xi Ophiuchi)
40 Ophiuchi
SAO185296
SAO185296
Gl 670 A

Visibility from Your Location

Today's ξ Ophiuchi (xi Ophiuchi) rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, UK are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 111.1°
Max altitude: 17.4°
Azimuth: 248.9°