68 Eridani, a yellow-white main-sequence star in Eridanus
68 Eridani is a yellow-white main-sequence star in the constellation Eridanus. At 83 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 5.12.
68 Eridani (HIP 23941)
68 Eridani is a yellow-white main-sequence star in the constellation Eridanus. At 83 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 5.12. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 12.2 km/s relative to the Sun.
Sky position: RA 5h 8.7m, Dec -4° 27.4'
Common designations: 68 Eridani, HR 1673, HD 33256, GJ 189.2, GJ 9176, HIP 23941, Gaia DR3 3212075924646082176
68 Eridani has the spectral type F5.5VkF4mF2. F-type stars are yellow-white stars of about 6,000 to 7,500 K, slightly hotter and more massive than the Sun. Their hydrogen lines are weaker than in A stars and metal lines become prominent. Its luminosity class V means it is a main-sequence (dwarf) star, still fusing hydrogen into helium in its core like the Sun.
How to find 68 Eridani in the sky
68 Eridani lies in Eridanus. With a declination of -4° 27.4', it is visible from the entire Southern Hemisphere and from the Northern Hemisphere up to about latitude 86° N. It is bright enough to see with the naked eye under dark skies. It is highest in the sky at local midnight around January, which makes the weeks around that month the best time to observe it.
Tabulated data for 68 Eridani
Astrometry and spectroscopy
| Right Ascension (J2000) | 77.18207797° (5h 8.7m) |
| Declination (J2000) | -4.45620829° (-4° 27.4') |
| Galactic Longitude | 204.83481203° |
| Galactic Latitude | -24.82814253° |
| Proper motion RA | 54.28 mas/yr |
| Proper motion Dec | 16.25 mas/yr |
| Parallax | 39.44 ± 0.09 mas |
| Spectral Type | F5.5VkF4mF2 |
| Radial Velocity | 10.18 km/s |
Photometry
| Band | Magnitude | Abs. Mag. |
|---|---|---|
| B | 5.55 | 3.53 |
| V | 5.12 | 3.10 |
| J | 4.33 | 2.31 |
| H | 3.92 | 1.90 |
| K | 3.93 | 1.91 |
Colour index B-V: +0.43
Derivations
- Heliocentric distance: 25.36 pc (83 light years) (0.2% margin of error)
- Absolute visual magnitude: 3.10
- Transverse velocity: 6.8 km/s
- Space velocity relative to the Sun: 12.2 km/s
- Galactic position (X, Y, Z): -20.9 pc, -9.7 pc, -10.6 pc
- Galactic velocity (U, V, W): -10.4 km/s, -6.3 km/s, 1.8 km/s
Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.