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Rare variable star 46 EP

HD 134877

RA 228.7405° · Dec -59.8418° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
46 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Wolf-Rayet star (shedding itself) +34
  • Variable star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 46

4 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Wolf-Rayet star (shedding itself) · +34
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads WN... — a Wolf-Rayet star: a stellar monster shedding its own outer layers in a ferocious wind, on its way to a supernova.
  • It changes. This star does not hold still: its brightness rises and falls on a rhythm of hours, days or years, either pulsing in size or being eclipsed by a companion.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Far away by human standards, yet still a local address inside the Milky Way's spiral arms.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 11.3 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Circinus.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around May — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 11.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
4.861
bv
0.85
constellation
Cir
dist ly
644.5772
luminosity
0.9899
mag
11.34
name
HD 134877
spect
WN...
var amplitude
0.18
var designation
CC
var max
11.244
var min
11.424

About HD 134877

HD 134877 is a rare variable star. It lies about 644.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cir, shines at apparent magnitude 11.34 and has spectral type WN....

Its spectrum reads WN... — a Wolf-Rayet star: a stellar monster shedding its own outer layers in a ferocious wind, on its way to a supernova.

How to see it

Look for HD 134877 in the constellation Cir. At apparent magnitude 11.34, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 134877 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.

Why HD 134877 is a rare variable star

HD 134877 scores 46 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Variable star, Wolf-Rayet star (shedding itself), 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.