Chi-2 Orionis, a blue-white supergiant star in Orion
Chi-2 Orionis is a blue-white supergiant star in the constellation Orion. At 4,271 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 4.63.
Chi-2 Orionis (HIP 28716)
Chi-2 Orionis is a blue-white supergiant star in the constellation Orion. At 4,271 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 4.63. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 23.6 km/s relative to the Sun.
Sky position: RA 6h 3.9m, Dec +20° 8.3'
Common designations: Chi-2 Orionis, 62 Orionis, HR 2135, HD 41117, HIP 28716, Gaia DR3 3374836252947269888
Chi-2 Orionis has the spectral type B2Ia. B-type stars are hot (about 10,000 to 30,000 K), luminous and blue-white. They are massive, short-lived stars, typically only tens of millions of years old, and are common in young clusters and OB associations. Its luminosity class I marks it as a supergiant, among the most luminous and largest stars known.
How to find Chi-2 Orionis in the sky
Chi-2 Orionis lies in Orion. With a declination of +20° 8.3', it is visible from the entire Northern Hemisphere and from the Southern Hemisphere down to about latitude 70° 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 Chi-2 Orionis
Astrometry and spectroscopy
| Right Ascension (J2000) | 90.97993488° (6h 3.9m) |
| Declination (J2000) | 20.13845226° (+20° 8.3') |
| Galactic Longitude | 189.69175978° |
| Galactic Latitude | -0.86044206° |
| Proper motion RA | 0.96 mas/yr |
| Proper motion Dec | -2.50 mas/yr |
| Parallax | 0.76 ± 0.12 mas |
| Spectral Type | B2Ia |
| Radial Velocity | 16.80 km/s |
Photometry
| Band | Magnitude | Abs. Mag. |
|---|---|---|
| U | 4.24 | -6.35 |
| B | 4.91 | -5.68 |
| V | 4.63 | -5.96 |
| R | 4.32 | -6.27 |
| I | 4.10 | -6.49 |
| J | 4.04 | -6.55 |
| H | 4.04 | -6.55 |
| K | 3.84 | -6.75 |
Colour index B-V: +0.28
Derivations
- Heliocentric distance: 1,309.59 pc (4,271 light years) (16.0% margin of error)
- Absolute visual magnitude: -5.96
- Transverse velocity: 16.6 km/s
- Space velocity relative to the Sun: 23.6 km/s
- Galactic position (X, Y, Z): -1290.7 pc, -220.4 pc, -19.7 pc
- Galactic velocity (U, V, W): -13.8 km/s, -19.0 km/s, -2.7 km/s
Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.