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Uncommon variable star 29 EP

HD 139216

RA 234.1174° · Dec 15.1014° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
29 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Bright giant +12
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 29

5 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Bright giant · +12
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M5II-III — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.
  • Where it is in life. It is a bright giant, well on its way to the largest stars there are.
  • 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 6.5 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Serpens.
  • Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north 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.

Properties

absmag
-0.057
bv
1.2
constellation
Ser
dist ly
671.1028
luminosity
91.791
mag
6.51
name
HD 139216
spect
M5II-III
var amplitude
0.35
var designation
Tau-4
var max
6.41
var min
6.76

About HD 139216

HD 139216 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 671.1 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ser, shines at apparent magnitude 6.51 and has spectral type M5II-III.

Its spectrum reads M5II-III — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

How to see it

Look for HD 139216 in the constellation Ser. At apparent magnitude 6.51, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 139216 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 139216 is an uncommon variable star

HD 139216 scores 29 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, Cool red M-type star, Bright giant, 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.