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Rare variable star 38 EP

HD 150214

RA 250.3533° · Dec -42.0605° · star

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Score breakdown

· 8 badges
38 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Giant star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 38

12 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Giant star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K4/K5III: — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.
  • 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 7.5 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Scorpius.
  • 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 21.4 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-0.319
bv
1.595
constellation
Sco
dist ly
1216.9999
luminosity
116.8423
mag
7.54
name
HD 150214
spect
K4/K5III:
var amplitude
0.1
var designation
V1064
var max
7.483
var min
7.583

About HD 150214

HD 150214 is a rare variable star. It lies about 1,217 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Sco, shines at apparent magnitude 7.54 and has spectral type K4/K5III:.

Its spectrum reads K4/K5III: — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

How to see it

Look for HD 150214 in the constellation Sco. At apparent magnitude 7.54, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 150214 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 150214 is a rare variable star

HD 150214 scores 38 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 12 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 8 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), On the zodiac, Orange K-type star, Giant star, Deep red star, 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.