RA 322.1649° · Dec 70.5607° · star
19 more points to reach Anomaly.
Alfirk is an epic variable star. It lies about 685.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cep, shines at apparent magnitude 3.23 and has spectral type B2IIIv SB.
Its spectrum reads B2IIIv SB — a blue-white B-type star, with a surface tens of thousands of degrees hot and a life measured in tens of millions of years.
Look for Alfirk in the constellation Cep. At apparent magnitude 3.23, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.
Like any astronomical target, Alfirk 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.
Alfirk scores 59 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 19 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 10 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, Has a proper name, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Hot blue B-type star, Giant star, Blue-white star and Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) — 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.