Stars Constellations Articles Sitemap ← Back
Stars in Eridanus

Sceptrum, an orange giant star in Eridanus

Sceptrum is an orange giant star in the constellation Eridanus. At 110 light years away, it is the 443rd brightest star in the Earth's sky, where it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 3.86.

Ashland Astronomy Studio Star

Sceptrum (HIP 21594)

Sceptrum is an orange giant star in the constellation Eridanus. At 110 light years away, it is the 443rd brightest star in the Earth's sky, where it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 3.86. Sceptrum is a multiple-star system. The iron abundance of Sceptrum is +0.03 (107.2% of the Sun). It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 50.7 km/s relative to the Sun. Its projected Galactic orbit carries it between 20,100 and 24,300 light years from the center of the Galaxy. It came closest to the Sun 530,000 years ago when it had brightened to magnitude 2.67 from a distance of 63 light years.

Sky position: RA 4h 38.2m, Dec -14° 18'

Common designations: Sceptrum, l Eridani, 53 Eridani, HIP 21594, HD 29503, Gliese 9160

Learn how to find naked-eye stars with:

Stars of the Northern Hemisphere
Deluxe Astronomy Poster Brightest stars in Eridanus:
(list all)

RankMag.Star
32.88Acamar
42.97Zaurak
53.52Rana
63.55Upsilon-4 Eridani
73.56Phi Eridani
83.69chi Eridani
93.70Tau-4 Eridani
103.72Epsilon Eridani
113.81Theemim

12

| 3.86

) Sceptrum

RankMag.Star
133.89Azha
143.93Nu Eridani
153.9743 Eridani
164.01Mu Eridani
174.04Beid
184.08Tau-3 Eridani
194.11Iota Eridani
Location of Sceptrum circled Map detail from Stars of the Northern Hemisphere
Hover over other bright stars to identify or click to jump.

Galactic Orbit of Sceptrum

(compared to the Sun)

E

ccentricity: 9.5% vs. 16.0%

Angle φ : 161.7°vs. 26.0°

Semi-major axis : 6,813 pc vs. 8,686 pc

Semi-minor axis: 6,782 pc vs. 8,574 pc

Focus-to-center

: 650 pcvs. 1,388 pc

Semilatus rectum : 6,751 pc vs. 8,464 pc

Perigalacticon: 6,164 pc vs. 7,297 pc

Apogalacticon

: 7,463 pcvs. 10,074 pc
  Some Tabulated XHIP Data for Sceptrum
(see also: SIMBAD)

Astrometry
2007A&A...474..653V

Position Proper Motion
Right Ascension: 69.54529569° ±0.25 mas -76.00 ±1.90 mas/yr.
Declination: -14.30358698° ±0.22 mas -167.20 ±1.90 mas/yr.
Galactic Longitude: 211.31938521° 123.38 mas/yr.
Galactic Latitude: -35.89560325° -136.05 mas/yr.

Parallax: 29.69 ± 0.37 mas

Spectrography

Spectral Type: K1III 2006AJ....132..161G.

Radial Velocity: 41.40 ±1.10 km/s [A rating] 2006AstL...32..759G.

Iron Abundance [Fe/H]: 0.03 ±0.03 dex  2008A&A...484L..21M, 2001ApJ...551..L85Z, 1990ApJS...74.1075M.
 


Photometry
 
band magnitude Abs. Mag.
U
B 4.94 2.31
V 3.86 1.22
R
I 2.90 0.27
J 2.02 -0.62
H 1.53 -1.11
K 1.44 -1.20

B-V: +1.08 V-I: +0.96

Derivations

Heliocentric distance: 33.68 pc (1.2% margin of error)

Galactocentric distance: 7,423 pc

Transverse velocity: 29.3 km/s

3D heliocentric position and motion:

toward:   

Galactic center Galactic rotation North Galactic Pole
Position ( X, Y, Z) -23.3 pc -14.2 pc -19.7 pc
Velocity (U, V, W) -7.5 km/s -27.6 km/s -41.9 km/s

← Back to all stars
// Fade in · only sidebar boxes, never the main content if('IntersectionObserver' in window){var io=new IntersectionObserver(function(es){es.forEach(function(en){if(en.isIntersecting){en.target.style.opacity='1';en.target.style.transform='none';io.unobserve(en.target);}});},{threshold:.05});document.querySelectorAll('.side__box').forEach(function(el){el.style.opacity='0';el.style.transform='translateY(10px)';el.style.transition='opacity .4s ease,transform .4s ease';io.observe(el);});}