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Uncommon variable star 31 EP

13 Lyr

RA 283.8337° · Dec 43.9461° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
31 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 31

3 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Giant star · +6
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M5IIIvar — 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 giant. It has already exhausted its core hydrogen and swollen up enormously in response.
  • 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 4.1 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, 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 July — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Properties

absmag
-0.725
bv
1.397
constellation
Lyr
dist ly
298.1317
luminosity
169.8244
mag
4.08
name
13 Lyr
spect
M5IIIvar
var amplitude
0.31
var designation
R
var max
3.966
var min
4.276

About 13 Lyr

13 Lyr is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 298.1 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Lyr, shines at apparent magnitude 4.08 and has spectral type M5IIIvar.

Its spectrum reads M5IIIvar — 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 13 Lyr in the constellation Lyr. At apparent magnitude 4.08, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 13 Lyr 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 13 Lyr is an uncommon variable star

13 Lyr scores 31 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, Cool red M-type star, Giant 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.