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Common variable star 17 EP

61 Cyg

RA 316.7219° · Dec 38.7494° · star

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Score breakdown

· 2 badges
17 pts · Common
Common 24 pts → Uncommon
  • Nearby (<25 ly) +12
  • Variable star +5
Total score 17

7 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Nearby (<25 ly) · +12

Trivia

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. A multi-generation starship could one day attempt the crossing.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 199.8 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 17.8 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.
  • At 10% light speed. ≈ 114 years in a starship at a tenth of light speed.
  • Distance. 11.4 light-years from Earth.

Look-back time

  • Look-back time. The light you'd see left around the year 2015.

Saying hello

  • Say hello. A radio message and its reply would take 22.7 years round-trip.

Properties

absmag
7.488
bv
1.069
constellation
Cyg
dist ly
11.3714
mag
5.2
name
61 Cyg
spect
K5V

About 61 Cyg

61 Cyg is a common variable star. It lies about 11.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cyg, shines at apparent magnitude 5.2 and has spectral type K5V.

61 Cyg is a common variable star worth 17 points across 2 science badges. Explore its facts, badges and place on the sky map, then add it to your dex on Spacedle.

How to see it

Look for 61 Cyg in the constellation Cyg. At apparent magnitude 5.2, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 61 Cyg 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 61 Cyg is a common variable star

61 Cyg scores 17 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 2 science badges — Variable star and Nearby (<25 ly) — 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.

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Sky imagery and survey data courtesy of Aladin Lite & CDS, Strasbourg. Object data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, JPL Small-Body Database, and the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue.