← Back to dex
Epic variable star 69 EP

HD 165782

RA 272.1105° · Dec -18.5522° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 9 badges
69 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Supergiant +18
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Toward the galactic centre +8
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Variable star +5
  • On the zodiac +3
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 69

9 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Toward the galactic centre · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Supergiant · +18
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G5Ia — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is a luminous supergiant — among the largest and rarest stars in the galaxy.
  • 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 Sagittarius.
  • 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
-1.043
bv
1.972
constellation
Sgr
dist ly
1606.6797
luminosity
227.6145
mag
7.42
name
HD 165782
spect
G5Ia
var amplitude
0.68
var designation
AX
var max
7.173
var min
7.853

About HD 165782

HD 165782 is an epic variable star. It lies about 1,606.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Sgr, shines at apparent magnitude 7.42 and has spectral type G5Ia.

Its spectrum reads G5Ia — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 165782 in the constellation Sgr. At apparent magnitude 7.42, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 165782 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 165782 is an epic variable star

HD 165782 scores 69 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 9 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Toward the galactic centre, On the zodiac, Sun-like G-type star, Supergiant, Deep red star and Strongly variable — 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.