About HIP 103241
HIP 103241 is an uncommon variable star. It sits in the constellation Cyg, shines at apparent magnitude 10.85 and has spectral type G0.
Its spectrum reads G0 — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Uncommon variable star 26 EP
HIP 103241
RA 313.7397° · Dec 47.5338° · star
Score breakdown
· 4 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Strongly variable +10
- Sun-like G-type star +8
- Variable star +5
- A named variable star +3
Total score 26
8 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Variable star · +5
- Sun-like G-type star · +8
- Strongly variable · +10
- A named variable star · +3
Trivia
Hard to believe
- True brightness. It pours out about 390.8 thousand times as much light as the Sun. It only looks ordinary because it is so far away.
What it actually is
- Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G0 — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
- 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.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 10.8 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Cygnus.
- 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 August — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out orange (B−V 0.9) — cooler than the Sun, and the kind of star that burns steadily for tens of billions of years.
- Why no green stars. No star ever looks green: a surface hot enough to peak in green also floods out plenty of red and blue, and your eye blends the mixture back to white.
Properties
- absmag
- -9.15
- bv
- 0.94
- constellation
- Cyg
- luminosity
- 398107.1706
- mag
- 10.85
- name
- HIP 103241
- spect
- G0
- var amplitude
- 0.65
- var designation
- V520
- var max
- 10.481
- var min
- 11.131
How to see it
Look for HIP 103241 in the constellation Cyg. At apparent magnitude 10.85, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.
Like any astronomical target, HIP 103241 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 HIP 103241 is an uncommon variable star
HIP 103241 scores 26 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 8 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Variable star, Sun-like G-type star, Strongly 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.