RA 218.8768° · Dec -42.1578° · star
7 more points to reach Epic.
Eta Cen is a rare variable star. It lies about 305.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cen, shines at apparent magnitude 2.33 and has spectral type B1Vn + A.
Its spectrum reads B1Vn + A — a blue-white B-type star, with a surface tens of thousands of degrees hot and a life measured in tens of millions of years.
Look for Eta Cen in the constellation Cen. At apparent magnitude 2.33, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.
Like any astronomical target, Eta Cen is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Eta Cen scores 43 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 8 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, Hot blue B-type star, Main-sequence star, Blue-white star, Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2), Gently variable and A named variable star — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.