NX Velorum, a blue subgiant star in Vela
NX Velorum is a blue subgiant star in the constellation Vela. At 1,503 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 7.19.
NX Velorum (HIP 42433)
NX Velorum is a blue subgiant star in the constellation Vela. At 1,503 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 7.19. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 24.1 km/s relative to the Sun.
Sky position: RA 8h 39.2m, Dec -40° 25.2'
Common designations: NX Velorum, HD 73882, HIP 42433
NX Velorum has the spectral type O8.5IV. O-type stars are the hottest and most massive stars, with surface temperatures above 30,000 K. They burn through their fuel in only a few million years and flood their surroundings with ultraviolet light. Its luminosity class IV marks it as a subgiant: it has exhausted hydrogen in its core and is beginning to expand toward the giant phase.
How to find NX Velorum in the sky
NX Velorum lies in Vela. With a declination of -40° 25.2', it is visible from the entire Southern Hemisphere and from the Northern Hemisphere up to about latitude 50° N. Observers poleward of latitude 50° S see it as circumpolar: it never sets. It is just beyond naked-eye visibility; binoculars will show it easily. It is highest in the sky at local midnight around February, which makes the weeks around that month the best time to observe it.
Tabulated data for NX Velorum
Astrometry and spectroscopy
| Right Ascension (J2000) | 129.78972551° (8h 39.2m) |
| Declination (J2000) | -40.41923910° (-40° 25.2') |
| Galactic Longitude | 260.18161749° |
| Galactic Latitude | 0.64314081° |
| Proper motion RA | -3.77 mas/yr |
| Proper motion Dec | 3.83 mas/yr |
| Parallax | 2.17 ± 0.91 mas |
| Spectral Type | O8.5IV |
| Radial Velocity | 21.00 km/s |
Photometry
| Band | Magnitude | Abs. Mag. |
|---|---|---|
| U | 7.07 | -1.25 |
| B | 7.59 | -0.73 |
| V | 7.19 | -1.13 |
| R | 6.67 | -1.65 |
| I | 6.30 | -2.02 |
| J | 6.11 | -2.21 |
| H | 6.02 | -2.30 |
| K | 5.92 | -2.40 |
Colour index B-V: +0.40
Derivations
- Heliocentric distance: 460.83 pc (1,503 light years) (41.9% margin of error)
- Absolute visual magnitude: -1.13
- Transverse velocity: 11.7 km/s
- Space velocity relative to the Sun: 24.1 km/s
- Galactic position (X, Y, Z): -78.6 pc, -454.1 pc, 5.2 pc
- Galactic velocity (U, V, W): -15.1 km/s, -18.7 km/s, -1.2 km/s
Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.