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Uncommon variable star 29 EP

HD 172730

RA 280.4849° · Dec -4.1107° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
29 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Deep red star +8
  • Variable star +5
  • Yellow-white F-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 29

5 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Yellow-white F-type star · +3
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads F9.5 — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
  • 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 9.4 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Scutum.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around July — 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. ≈ 14.1 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
2.488
bv
1.81
constellation
Sct
dist ly
801.3659
luminosity
8.8064
mag
9.44
name
HD 172730
spect
F9.5
var amplitude
0.98
var designation
RU
var max
8.899
var min
9.879

About HD 172730

HD 172730 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 801.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Sct, shines at apparent magnitude 9.44 and has spectral type F9.5.

Its spectrum reads F9.5 — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 172730 in the constellation Sct. At apparent magnitude 9.44, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 172730 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 172730 is an uncommon variable star

HD 172730 scores 29 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

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