← Back to dex
Rare variable star 41 EP

HD 232078

RA 294.5503° · Dec 16.8071° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 7 badges
41 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Bright giant +12
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • Orange K-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 41

9 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Bright giant · +12
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K3IIp — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.
  • 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 8.6 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Sagitta.
  • 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Properties

absmag
-0.464
bv
2
constellation
Sge
dist ly
2090.7435
luminosity
133.5365
mag
8.57
name
HD 232078
spect
K3IIp
var amplitude
0.38
var designation
V339
var max
8.379
var min
8.759

About HD 232078

HD 232078 is a rare variable star. It lies about 2,090.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Sge, shines at apparent magnitude 8.57 and has spectral type K3IIp.

Its spectrum reads K3IIp — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

How to see it

Look for HD 232078 in the constellation Sge. At apparent magnitude 8.57, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 232078 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 232078 is a rare variable star

HD 232078 scores 41 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Orange K-type star, Bright giant, Deep red 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.