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Proper Names	Phact, Phakt, Phaet
Bayer Designation	Alpha Columbae
Flamsteed Number	None
HR (BSC)	1956
HD	37795
Constellation	Columba
Right Ascension	5h 39m 39s
Declination	-34° 4' 27"
Distance	261 light years 80 parsecs
Magnitude	Apparent: +2.7 Absolute: -1.9
Spectral Class	B7IVe blue subgiant
Optimum Visibility	December / January
Notes	Phakt is a Be star, a rapidly rotating hot star surrounded by a disc of material. There are indications that this is an eruptive variable of the Gamma Cassiopeiae type, periodically expelling the material that forms its circumstellar disc.

A second magnitude star, but nonetheless the brightest in the southern constellation of Columba, the Dove. It is slightly variable in nature.

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