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Uncommon variable star 25 EP

HD 164345

RA 269.3804° · Dec 54.6655° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
25 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • Variable star +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Orange K-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) +2
Total score 25

9 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) · +2
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K5pvar — 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 7.4 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Draco.
  • 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 14.6 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.336
bv
1.497
constellation
Dra
dist ly
832.0305
luminosity
63.9146
mag
7.37
name
HD 164345
spect
K5pvar
var amplitude
0.04
var designation
UW
var max
7.358
var min
7.398

About HD 164345

HD 164345 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 832 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Dra, shines at apparent magnitude 7.37 and has spectral type K5pvar.

Its spectrum reads K5pvar — 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 164345 in the constellation Dra. At apparent magnitude 7.37, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 164345 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 164345 is an uncommon variable star

HD 164345 scores 25 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Orange K-type star, Deep red star, Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) 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.