Angetenar (HIP 13288)

Angetenar is an orange giant star in the constellation Eridanus. At 194 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 4.77. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 17.2 km/s relative to the Sun.

Sky position: RA 2h 51.0m, Dec -21° 0.2'

Common designations: Angetenar, Tau-2 Eridani, 2 Eridani, HR 850, HD 17824, Gaia DR3 5127513656557144576, HIP 13288

Angetenar has the spectral type K0III. K-type stars are orange stars with surface temperatures of about 3,900 to 5,300 K. Their spectra are rich in neutral metal lines and, in the cooler examples, molecular bands. Its luminosity class III marks it as a giant: an evolved star that has left the main sequence and swollen to many times its original size.

How to find Angetenar in the sky

Angetenar lies in Eridanus. With a declination of -21° 0.2', it is visible from the entire Southern Hemisphere and from the Northern Hemisphere up to about latitude 69° N. It is bright enough to see with the naked eye under dark skies. It is highest in the sky at local midnight around November, which makes the weeks around that month the best time to observe it.

Tabulated data for Angetenar

Astrometry and spectroscopy

Right Ascension (J2000)	42.75969630° (2h 51.0m)
Declination (J2000)	-21.00401153° (-21° 0.2')
Galactic Longitude	206.79660947°
Galactic Latitude	-62.09221813°
Proper motion RA	-52.89 mas/yr
Proper motion Dec	-21.80 mas/yr
Parallax	16.79 ± 0.22 mas
Spectral Type	K0III
Radial Velocity	-5.90 km/s

Photometry

Band	Magnitude	Abs. Mag.
U	6.28	2.41
B	5.67	1.80
V	4.77	0.90
R	4.07	0.20
I	3.60	-0.27
J	3.21	-0.66
H	2.78	-1.09
K	2.67	-1.21

Colour index B-V: +0.90

Derivations

Heliocentric distance: 59.55 pc (194 light years) (1.3% margin of error)
Absolute visual magnitude: 0.90
Transverse velocity: 16.1 km/s
Space velocity relative to the Sun: 17.2 km/s
Galactic position (X, Y, Z): -24.9 pc, -12.6 pc, -52.6 pc
Galactic velocity (U, V, W): 15.7 km/s, 6.7 km/s, -2.3 km/s

Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.