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Epic variable star 61 EP

HR 7243

RA 286.5927° · Dec 8.2300° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
61 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Dramatic variable (over 2 magnitudes) +20
  • Fades out of naked-eye view +16
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 61

17 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Red dwarf · +6
  • Dramatic variable (over 2 magnitudes) · +20
  • Fades out of naked-eye view · +16
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M5e-M9e — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.
  • 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 7.6 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 24.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-0.516
bv
1.136
constellation
Aql
dist ly
1376.1856
luminosity
140.0877
mag
7.61
name
HR 7243
spect
M5e-M9e
var amplitude
3.2
var designation
R
var max
5.828
var min
9.028

About HR 7243

HR 7243 is an epic variable star. It lies about 1,376.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aql, shines at apparent magnitude 7.61 and has spectral type M5e-M9e.

Its spectrum reads M5e-M9e — 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 7243 in the constellation Aql. At apparent magnitude 7.61, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HR 7243 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 7243 is an epic variable star

HR 7243 scores 61 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 17 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Cool red M-type star, Red dwarf, Dramatic variable (over 2 magnitudes), Fades out of naked-eye view 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.