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Epic variable star 69 EP

HR 7009

RA 279.5270° · Dec 39.6683° · star

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Score breakdown

· 9 badges
69 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Fades out of naked-eye view +16
  • Bright giant +12
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) +10
  • 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 69

9 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Bright giant · +12
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) · +10
  • Gently variable · +4
  • Fades out of naked-eye view · +16
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M4.5II — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.
  • Where it is in life. It is a bright giant, well on its way to the largest stars there are.
  • 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 6 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Lyra.
  • 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.

Properties

absmag
-2.586
bv
1.444
constellation
Lyr
dist ly
1716.6106
luminosity
942.7575
mag
6.02
name
HR 7009
spect
M4.5II
var amplitude
0.47
var designation
XY
var max
5.701
var min
6.171

About HR 7009

HR 7009 is an epic variable star. It lies about 1,716.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Lyr, shines at apparent magnitude 6.02 and has spectral type M4.5II.

Its spectrum reads M4.5II — 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 HR 7009 in the constellation Lyr. At apparent magnitude 6.02, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HR 7009 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 HR 7009 is an epic variable star

HR 7009 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), Cool red M-type star, Bright giant, Deep red star, Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2), Gently variable and Fades out of naked-eye view — 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.