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Show the direction and distance to this object on the Galactic Map.

A complex system of stars just under a hundred light years from the Earth's Solar System. The two major components are Rho Capricorni A and Rho Capricorni D. These form a distant pair in comparison with most multiple systems: they are at least an eighth of a light year from one another. This is the most prominent pair of stars in a quintuple system close to the ecliptic in the constellation of Capricornus.

20 28 51.610 -17 48 49.27

FoV: 39.93'

The bright star to the immediate southeast of Rho Capricorni is not part of that multiple system, but an unrelated optical double. This is seventh-magnitude HD 194960, an orange giant some four times farther from the Sun than Rho Capricorni. Imagery provided by Aladin sky atlas

The apparent magnitude for the system as a whole is +4.80, making it just bright enough to be seen as a faint point by the naked eye. Its absolute magnitude is somewhat brighter, +2.40, and if it lay ten parsecs from the Earth, it would appear as bright as Merak, the southern star of the two Pointers in the Plough.

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