Aspidiske
HR 3699 · HIP 45556 · ι Car
👁️ Naked-eye
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Star
- Apparent magnitude
- 2.26 mag
- Parallax
- 4.26 mas → about 765.6 light-years away
- Spectral type
- A8Ib
- Right ascension
- 139.2725°
- Declination
- -59.2752°
- Designation
- HR 3699
- Bayer designation
- ι Car
- HIP number
- 45556
- IAU name adopted
- 2016-07-20
- Name language
- Greek
- Name origin (IAU)
- Applied in recent times from the Greek word ἀσπιδίσκη, "little shield", used by Ptolemy in the Almagest in describing several stars in his constellation Argo, that were fixed to the ship for protection and decoration. Ptolemy's shields were in today's Puppis and Vela, but their identification was confused when Argo was divided into the modern Carina, Puppis, and Vela.
Source:IAU Working Group on Star Names · checked 2026-11-02 ↗ESA Hipparcos Catalogue (ESA Gaia Archive) · checked 2026-11-03 ↗
Related
Constellation
In everyday life
- Light from this object takes about 766 years to reach Earth — the light you see tonight left around AD 1260 (official distance ÷ speed of light).
- At magnitude 2.3 it is bright enough for the naked eye (limit about 6) — look from somewhere dark.
- Declination -59.3° — it never rises in Seoul (37.6° N); you need to be farther south to see it.
Worked out from this object's official values.