32 Eridani (HIP 18255)

32 Eridani is a yellow giant star in the constellation Eridanus. At 313 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 4.45. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 29.6 km/s relative to the Sun.

Sky position: RA 3h 54.3m, Dec -2° 57.3'

Common designations: 32 Eridani, HIP 18255

32 Eridani has the spectral type G8III+A1V. G-type stars are yellow stars of about 5,300 to 6,000 K, the same class as the Sun. Their spectra show strong lines of ionized calcium and many metals. 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 32 Eridani in the sky

32 Eridani lies in Eridanus. With a declination of -2° 57.3', it is visible from the entire Southern Hemisphere and from the Northern Hemisphere up to about latitude 87° N. It is bright enough to see with the naked eye under dark skies. It is highest in the sky at local midnight around December, which makes the weeks around that month the best time to observe it.

Tabulated data for 32 Eridani

Astrometry and spectroscopy

Right Ascension (J2000)	58.57292417° (3h 54.3m)
Declination (J2000)	-2.95473430° (-2° 57.3')
Galactic Longitude	192.09529860°
Galactic Latitude	-40.09899505°
Proper motion RA	26.00 mas/yr
Proper motion Dec	-0.23 mas/yr
Parallax	10.42 ± 0.79 mas
Spectral Type	G8III+A1V
Radial Velocity	27.10 km/s

Photometry

Band	Magnitude	Abs. Mag.
U	5.55	0.64
B	5.13	0.22
V	4.45	-0.46
R	3.86	-1.05
I	3.46	-1.45
J	2.89	-2.02
H	2.47	-2.44
K	2.45	-2.46

Colour index B-V: +0.68

Derivations

Heliocentric distance: 95.97 pc (313 light years) (7.6% margin of error)
Absolute visual magnitude: -0.46
Transverse velocity: 11.8 km/s
Space velocity relative to the Sun: 29.6 km/s
Galactic position (X, Y, Z): -71.8 pc, -15.4 pc, -61.8 pc
Galactic velocity (U, V, W): -25.0 km/s, -12.2 km/s, -10.0 km/s

Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.