Rigil Kentaurus
HR 5459 · HIP 71683 · α Cen
👁️ Naked-eye
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Star
- Apparent magnitude
- -0.1 mag
- Parallax
- 754.81 mas → about 4.3 light-years away
- Spectral type
- G2V
- Right ascension
- 219.9021°
- Declination
- -60.834°
- Designation
- HR 5459
- Bayer designation
- α Cen
- HIP number
- 71683
- IAU name adopted
- 2016-11-06
- Name language
- Arabic
- Name origin (IAU)
- Applied in recent times from its name for the Arabic Almagest period rijl qanturis, "the Centaur's Foot". Today the name is occasionally seen abbreviated as "Rigil Kent."
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 4.3 years to reach Earth — the light you see tonight left around AD 2022 (official distance ÷ speed of light).
- At magnitude -0.1 it is bright enough for the naked eye (limit about 6) — look from somewhere dark.
- Declination -60.8° — it never rises in Seoul (37.6° N); you need to be farther south to see it.