RA 297.6958° · Dec 8.8683° · star
18 more points to reach Anomaly.
Altair is an epic variable star. It lies about 16.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aql, shines at apparent magnitude 0.76 and has spectral type A7IV-V.
Its spectrum reads A7IV-V — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.
Look for Altair in the constellation Aql. At apparent magnitude 0.76, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.
Like any astronomical target, Altair 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.
Altair scores 60 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 18 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 8 science badges — Variable star, Nearby (<25 ly), Brilliant (mag < 1), Has a proper name, White A-type star, Subgiant (leaving the main sequence), 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.