56 Orionis, an orange bright giant star in Orion
56 Orionis is an orange bright giant star in the constellation Orion. At 1,283 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 4.75.
56 Orionis (HIP 27750)
56 Orionis is an orange bright giant star in the constellation Orion. At 1,283 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 4.75. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 22.7 km/s relative to the Sun.
Sky position: RA 5h 52.4m, Dec +1° 51.3'
Common designations: 56 Orionis, HR 2037, HD 39400, HIP 27750, Gaia DR3 3315870440783129600
56 Orionis has the spectral type K2-IIb. 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 II marks it as a bright giant, more luminous than ordinary giants.
How to find 56 Orionis in the sky
56 Orionis lies in Orion. With a declination of +1° 51.3', it is visible from the entire Northern Hemisphere and from the Southern Hemisphere down to about latitude 88° S. 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 56 Orionis
Astrometry and spectroscopy
| Right Ascension (J2000) | 88.11016074° (5h 52.4m) |
| Declination (J2000) | 1.85513786° (+1° 51.3') |
| Galactic Longitude | 204.40938162° |
| Galactic Latitude | -12.22212978° |
| Proper motion RA | -6.89 mas/yr |
| Proper motion Dec | -7.97 mas/yr |
| Parallax | 2.54 ± 0.12 mas |
| Spectral Type | K2-IIb |
| Radial Velocity | 11.27 km/s |
Photometry
| Band | Magnitude | Abs. Mag. |
|---|---|---|
| B | 6.13 | -1.84 |
| V | 4.75 | -3.22 |
| J | 2.58 | -5.40 |
| H | 1.97 | -6.00 |
| K | 1.80 | -6.18 |
Colour index B-V: +1.38
Derivations
- Heliocentric distance: 393.33 pc (1,283 light years) (4.6% margin of error)
- Absolute visual magnitude: -3.22
- Transverse velocity: 19.6 km/s
- Space velocity relative to the Sun: 22.7 km/s
- Galactic position (X, Y, Z): -350.1 pc, -158.9 pc, -83.3 pc
- Galactic velocity (U, V, W): -3.6 km/s, -9.3 km/s, -20.3 km/s
Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.