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Common variable star 18 EP

HD 174107

RA 282.2277° · Dec 0.5841° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
18 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Hot blue B-type star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 18

4 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Hot blue B-type star · +6
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads sdB(Nova) — a blue-white B-type star, with a surface tens of thousands of degrees hot and a life measured in tens of millions of years.
  • Where it is in life. It is a subdwarf: an old, metal-poor star from the galaxy's early days, a little smaller and fainter than a main-sequence star of the same colour.
  • 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 11.9 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Aquila.
  • 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.

Properties

absmag
5.377
constellation
Aql
dist ly
657.5726
luminosity
0.6155
mag
11.9
name
HD 174107
spect
sdB(Nova)
var amplitude
0.47
var designation
V603
var max
11.609
var min
12.079

About HD 174107

HD 174107 is a common variable star. It lies about 657.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aql, shines at apparent magnitude 11.9 and has spectral type sdB(Nova).

Its spectrum reads sdB(Nova) — a blue-white B-type star, with a surface tens of thousands of degrees hot and a life measured in tens of millions of years.

How to see it

Look for HD 174107 in the constellation Aql. At apparent magnitude 11.9, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 174107 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 174107 is a common variable star

HD 174107 scores 18 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Variable star, Hot blue B-type star, 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.