Epsilon Centauri, a blue giant star in Centaurus
Epsilon Centauri is a blue giant star in the constellation Centaurus. At 425 light years away, it is the 76th brightest star in the Earth's sky, where it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 2.29.
Epsilon Centauri (HIP 66657)
Epsilon Centauri is a blue giant star in the constellation Centaurus. At 425 light years away, it is the 76th brightest star in the Earth's sky, where it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 2.29. Epsilon Centauri is the primary component of a multiple-star system. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 12.3 km/s relative to the Sun. Its projected Galactic orbit carries it between 23,200 and 26,300 light years from the center of the Galaxy.
Sky position: RA 13h 39.9m, Dec -53° 28.2'
Common designations: Epsilon Centauri, HIP 66657, HD 118716, HR 5132
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Brightest stars in Centaurus:
(list all)
1
| -0.01
| Rank | Mag. | Star |
| 2 | 0.61 | Hadar |
| 3 | 1.35 | Alpha Centauri B |
| 4 | 2.06 | Menkent |
| 5 | 2.20 | Gamma Centauri |
6
| 2.29
) Epsilon Centauri
| Rank | Mag. | Star |
| 7 | 2.33 | Eta Centauri |
| 8 | 2.55 | Zeta Centauri |
| 9 | 2.58 | Delta Centauri |
| 10 | 2.75 | Iota Centauri |
| 11 | 3.11 | Lambda Centauri |
| 12 | 3.13 | Kappa Centauri |
| 13 | 3.41 | Nu Centauri |
| 14 | 3.47 | Mu Centauri |
| 15 | 3.83 | Phi Centauri |
| 16 | 3.85 | Tau Centauri |
| 17 | 3.87 | Upsilon-1 Centauri |
Galactic Orbit of Epsilon Centauri
(compared to the Sun)
E
ccentricity: 6.2% vs. 16.0%Angle φ : 58.1°vs. 26.0°
Semi-major axis : 7,587 pc vs. 8,686 pc
Semi-minor axis: 7,572 pc vs. 8,574 pc
Focus-to-center
: 471 pcvs. 1,388 pcSemilatus rectum : 7,557 pc vs. 8,464 pc
Perigalacticon: 7,116 pc vs. 7,297 pc
Apogalacticon
: 8,057 pcvs. 10,074 pcSome Tabulated XHIP Data for Epsilon Centauri
(see also: SIMBAD)
Astrometry
2007A&A...474..653V
| Position | Proper Motion | |
| Right Ascension: | 204.97196970° ±0.28 mas | -15.30 ±0.36 mas/yr. |
| Declination: | -53.46636266° ±0.31 mas | -11.72 ±0.36 mas/yr. |
| Galactic Longitude: | 310.19195853° | -17.24 mas/yr. |
| Galactic Latitude: | 8.72104856° | -8.62 mas/yr. |
Parallax: 7.63 ± 0.48 mas
Spectrography
Spectral Type: B1 III 1978MSS...C02....0H.
Radial Velocity: 3.00 ±2.50 km/s [A rating] 2006AstL...32..759G.
Iron Abundance [Fe/H]:
n/a
Photometry
band
magnitude
Abs. Mag.
U
1.16
-4.42
B
2.12
-3.46
V
2.29
-3.29
R
I
2.48
-3.10
J
H
K
B-V: -0.17 V-I: -0.19
Derivations
Heliocentric distance: 130.44 pc (6.3% margin of error)
Galactocentric distance: 7,317 pc
Transverse velocity: 11.9 km/s
3D heliocentric position and motion:
|
toward: |
Galactic center | Galactic rotation | North Galactic Pole |
| Position ( X, Y, Z) | 83.2 pc | -98.5 pc | 19.8 pc |
| Velocity (U, V, W) | -5.7 km/s | -9.8 km/s | -4.8 km/s |