46 Eridani, a white star in Eridanus
46 Eridani is a white star in the constellation Eridanus. At 780 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 5.72.
46 Eridani (HIP 21278)
46 Eridani is a white star in the constellation Eridanus. At 780 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 5.72. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 8.2 km/s relative to the Sun.
Sky position: RA 4h 33.9m, Dec -6° 44.3'
Common designations: 46 Eridani, EH Eridani, HR 1449, HD 29009, HIP 21278, Gaia DR3 3198616562292035072
46 Eridani has the spectral type ApSi. A-type stars are white stars with surface temperatures of roughly 7,500 to 10,000 K. Their spectra are dominated by strong hydrogen lines, and many of them rotate rapidly.
How to find 46 Eridani in the sky
46 Eridani lies in Eridanus. With a declination of -6° 44.3', it is visible from the entire Southern Hemisphere and from the Northern Hemisphere up to about latitude 83° 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 46 Eridani
Astrometry and spectroscopy
| Right Ascension (J2000) | 68.47803183° (4h 33.9m) |
| Declination (J2000) | -6.73891179° (-6° 44.3') |
| Galactic Longitude | 202.47408663° |
| Galactic Latitude | -33.54634950° |
| Proper motion RA | -3.79 mas/yr |
| Proper motion Dec | -5.99 mas/yr |
| Parallax | 4.18 ± 0.08 mas |
| Spectral Type | ApSi |
| Radial Velocity | 1.70 km/s |
Photometry
| Band | Magnitude | Abs. Mag. |
|---|---|---|
| U | 5.13 | -1.76 |
| B | 5.59 | -1.30 |
| V | 5.72 | -1.17 |
| J | 5.89 | -1.01 |
| H | 5.97 | -0.93 |
| K | 5.97 | -0.92 |
Colour index B-V: -0.13
Derivations
- Heliocentric distance: 239.18 pc (780 light years) (1.8% margin of error)
- Absolute visual magnitude: -1.17
- Transverse velocity: 8.0 km/s
- Space velocity relative to the Sun: 8.2 km/s
- Galactic position (X, Y, Z): -184.2 pc, -76.2 pc, -132.2 pc
- Galactic velocity (U, V, W): 3.8 km/s, -2.7 km/s, -6.8 km/s
Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.