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Rare variable star 49 EP

HD 153162

RA 255.2321° · Dec -56.4800° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
49 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Supergiant +18
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 49

1 more point to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Supergiant · +18
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M3/M4Ib — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.
  • 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 8.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Ara.
  • 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.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 23.7 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.119
bv
1.661
constellation
Ara
dist ly
1347.7519
luminosity
78.0549
mag
8.2
name
HD 153162
spect
M3/M4Ib
var amplitude
0.19
var designation
V849
var max
8.086
var min
8.276

About HD 153162

HD 153162 is a rare variable star. It lies about 1,347.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ara, shines at apparent magnitude 8.2 and has spectral type M3/M4Ib.

Its spectrum reads M3/M4Ib — 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 153162 in the constellation Ara. At apparent magnitude 8.2, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 153162 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 153162 is a rare variable star

HD 153162 scores 49 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Cool red M-type star, Supergiant, 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.