So Krypton and Superman are fictional, right? Well, an astronomer found the actual location of Krypton, Superman’s home planet.
Every story has a bit of truth in it, and so does Superman’s story. Thanks to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Krypton is got an actual location, in the sky. Superman’s home planet is located in the Corvus constellation, some 27.1 light years from Earth.
DC Comics, the company that owns Superman and everything there is about him, hired astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson to find Krypton in the sky. “One of our staffers reached out to him [ Neil deGrasse Tyson] to see if he’d assist for a story we were doing, and he actually came up with a location” DC co-publisher Dan DiDio told Fox News.
“As a native of Metropolis, I was delighted to help Superman, who has done so much for my city over all these years” said Tyson who is the director of the Hayden Planetarium on West 81st Street at Central Park West. The astronomer even got a part in “Action Comics” No. 14, but it’s the Man of Steel who finds Krypton up in the sky. “It’s clear that if he weren’t a superhero, he would have made quite an astrophysicist” Tyson gushed.
“Having Neil deGrasse Tyson in the book was one thing, but by applying real world science to this story he has forever changed Superman’s place in history” added Dan DiDio. “Now fans will be able to look up at the night’s sky and say, ‘That’s where Superman was born” the DC co-publisher’s statement reads.
Krypton is a fictional planet, but Neil deGrasse Tyson figured out where its location if it had ever existed. Planet Krypton is 27.1 light years from Earth and orbits a red dwarf star labeled LHS 2520. In fact, some hardcore Superman fans could do the math and see that the distance between Earth and Krypton coincides with the superhero’s age in the comic books.
For the amateur astronomers, also fans of Superman, here are the coordinates for Superman’s home planet in the sky: right ascension: 12 hours 10 minutes 5.77 seconds; declination: -15 degrees 4 minutes 17.9 seconds; proper motion: 0.76 arcseconds per year, along 172.94 degrees from due north.
