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Common variable star 20 EP

HD 159273

RA 263.6391° · Dec -18.2208° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
20 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Variable star +5
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • Yellow-white F-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 20

2 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Yellow-white F-type star · +3
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads F0IV/V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
  • 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 7.1 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Ophiuchus.
  • 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Properties

absmag
0.548
bv
0.405
constellation
Oph
dist ly
669.7248
luminosity
52.5775
mag
7.11
name
HD 159273
spect
F0IV/V
var amplitude
0.12
var designation
V2378
var max
7.079
var min
7.199

About HD 159273

HD 159273 is a common variable star. It lies about 669.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Oph, shines at apparent magnitude 7.11 and has spectral type F0IV/V.

Its spectrum reads F0IV/V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 159273 in the constellation Oph. At apparent magnitude 7.11, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 159273 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 159273 is a common variable star

HD 159273 scores 20 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, Yellow-white F-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.