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Common variable star 17 EP

HD 204038

RA 321.2515° · Dec 33.6875° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
17 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Variable star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • Yellow-white F-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 17

5 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Yellow-white F-type star · +3
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads F1V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.
  • 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 8.4 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, 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.

Could we get there?

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

Properties

absmag
2.223
bv
0.453
constellation
Cyg
dist ly
555.6322
luminosity
11.2409
mag
8.38
name
HD 204038
spect
F1V
var amplitude
0.37
var designation
V1073
var max
8.243
var min
8.613

About HD 204038

HD 204038 is a common variable star. It lies about 555.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cyg, shines at apparent magnitude 8.38 and has spectral type F1V.

Its spectrum reads F1V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 204038 in the constellation Cyg. At apparent magnitude 8.38, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 204038 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 204038 is a common variable star

HD 204038 scores 17 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, Yellow-white F-type star, Main-sequence 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.