← Back to dex
Rare variable star 43 EP

Lacaille 8760

RA 319.3159° · Dec -38.8674° · star

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

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 8 badges
43 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Nearby (<25 ly) +12
  • Has a proper name +8
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • A named variable star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) +2
Total score 43

7 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Nearby (<25 ly) · +12
  • Has a proper name · +8
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Red dwarf · +6
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) · +2
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M1/M2V — 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. Inside our stellar backyard: every radio broadcast humanity has ever made has already swept past it.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 6.7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Microscopium.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around August — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 226.2 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
8.709
bv
1.397
constellation
Mic
dist ly
12.8708
luminosity
0.0286
mag
6.69
name
Lacaille 8760
named
yes
spect
M1/M2V
var amplitude
0.04
var designation
AX
var max
6.667
var min
6.707

About Lacaille 8760

Lacaille 8760 is a rare variable star. It lies about 12.9 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Mic, shines at apparent magnitude 6.69 and has spectral type M1/M2V.

Its spectrum reads M1/M2V — 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 Lacaille 8760 in the constellation Mic. At apparent magnitude 6.69, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, Lacaille 8760 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 Lacaille 8760 is a rare variable star

Lacaille 8760 scores 43 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 8 science badges — Variable star, Nearby (<25 ly), Has a proper name, Cool red M-type star, Main-sequence star, Red dwarf, Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) 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.