Epic variable star 52 EP

HD 151564

RA 252.5060° · Dec -41.6212° · star

Loading sky survey…

🌌 View in 3D star map

Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 7 badges

52 pts · Epic

Epic 78 pts → Anomaly

Blazing O-type star +26
Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
Variable star +5
Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
Gently variable +4
On the zodiac +3
A named variable star +3

Total score 52

26 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

Variable star · +5
Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
On the zodiac · +3
Blazing O-type star · +26
Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5
Gently variable · +4
A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

Spectral class. Its spectrum reads O9.5IV — an O-type star — the hottest, rarest main class there is. Fewer than one star in a million is an O, and none of them lasts long.
Where it is in life. It is a subgiant, caught in the act of leaving the main sequence as the hydrogen in its core runs out.
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 8 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 June — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

Verdict. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Properties

absmag: -0.746
bv: 0.063
constellation: Sco
dist ly: 1822.1005
luminosity: 173.141
mag: 7.99
name: HD 151564
spect: O9.5IV
var amplitude: 0.08
var designation: V1290
var max: 7.97
var min: 8.05

Nearby objects

About HD 151564

HD 151564 is an epic variable star. It lies about 1,822.1 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Sco, shines at apparent magnitude 7.99 and has spectral type O9.5IV.

Its spectrum reads O9.5IV — an O-type star — the hottest, rarest main class there is. Fewer than one star in a million is an O, and none of them lasts long.

How to see it

Look for HD 151564 in the constellation Sco. At apparent magnitude 7.99, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 151564 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 151564 is an epic variable star

HD 151564 scores 52 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 26 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), On the zodiac, Blazing O-type star, Subgiant (leaving the main sequence), 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.