HR 5992 (HIP 78840)

HR 5992 is a white star in the constellation Serpens. At 446 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 6.27. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 21.4 km/s relative to the Sun.

Sky position: RA 16h 5.6m, Dec +8° 5.8'

Common designations: HR 5992, HD 144426, HIP 78840, Gaia DR3 4451539096123574400

HR 5992 has the spectral type A3m. A-type stars are white stars with surface temperatures of roughly 7,500 to 10,000 K. Their spectra are dominated by strong hydrogen lines, and many of them rotate rapidly.

How to find HR 5992 in the sky

HR 5992 lies in Serpens. With a declination of +8° 5.8', it is visible from the entire Northern Hemisphere and from the Southern Hemisphere down to about latitude 82° S. It is just beyond naked-eye visibility; binoculars will show it easily. It is highest in the sky at local midnight around June, which makes the weeks around that month the best time to observe it.

Tabulated data for HR 5992

Astrometry and spectroscopy

Right Ascension (J2000)	241.40808140° (16h 5.6m)
Declination (J2000)	8.09624973° (+8° 5.8')
Galactic Longitude	19.77165092°
Galactic Latitude	40.35376814°
Proper motion RA	9.35 mas/yr
Proper motion Dec	1.69 mas/yr
Parallax	7.31 ± 0.04 mas
Spectral Type	A3m
Radial Velocity	-20.50 km/s

Photometry

Band	Magnitude	Abs. Mag.
B	6.36	0.68
V	6.27	0.59
J	6.08	0.40
H	6.08	0.40
K	5.99	0.31

Colour index B-V: +0.09

Derivations

Heliocentric distance: 136.75 pc (446 light years) (0.6% margin of error)
Absolute visual magnitude: 0.59
Transverse velocity: 6.2 km/s
Space velocity relative to the Sun: 21.4 km/s
Galactic position (X, Y, Z): 98.1 pc, 35.3 pc, 88.5 pc
Galactic velocity (U, V, W): -13.1 km/s, -0.6 km/s, -16.9 km/s

Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.