Star
Menkent
Orange star · K0IIIb
θ Centauri · Centaurus
Shown in its true colour — like most stars, it is too far away to photograph as more than a point of light.
Theta Centauri is a single star in the southern constellation of Centaurus, the centaur. It has the official name Menkent, pronounced ; Theta Centauri is its Bayer designation, which is Latinized from θ Centauri and abbreviated Theta Cen or θ Cen. With an apparent visual magnitude of +2.06, it is the fourth-brightest member of the constellation. Based on parallax measurements obtained during the Hipparcos mission, it is about 58.8 light-years distant. It has a relatively high proper motion, traversing the celestial sphere at the rate of 0.73 arcsecond/yr. This suggests that Menkent may have originated in the outer disk of the Milky Way and is merely passing through the solar neighborhood.
Description from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
In your sky
Share your location to see where this is in your sky right now.
Key facts
Distance
~58.8 light-years
Apparent mag.
+2.06
Spectral type
K0IIIb
Luminosity
42.5 × Sun
Absolute mag.
+0.78
Catalogue
HIP 68933
Spectral type
K0IIIb
True colour from its B–V index (1.01): a surface around 4700 K.
Did you know
- Menkent is also known as θ Centauri.
- Its spectral type K0IIIb marks it as a orange star.
- It lies in the constellation Centaurus.
