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Rare variable star 35 EP

HIP 84346

RA 258.6658° · Dec 11.0694° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
35 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 35

15 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Red dwarf · +6
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M3.5e — 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 9.3 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Ophiuchus.
  • 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 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. ≈ 34.9 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.344
bv
1.289
constellation
Oph
dist ly
1988.7561
luminosity
63.4454
mag
9.27
name
HIP 84346
spect
M3.5e
var amplitude
0.61
var designation
V438
var max
9.007
var min
9.617

About HIP 84346

HIP 84346 is a rare variable star. It lies about 1,988.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Oph, shines at apparent magnitude 9.27 and has spectral type M3.5e.

Its spectrum reads M3.5e — 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 HIP 84346 in the constellation Oph. At apparent magnitude 9.27, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 84346 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 HIP 84346 is a rare variable star

HIP 84346 scores 35 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 15 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Cool red M-type star, Red dwarf, Strongly 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.