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Common variable star 21 EP

HIP 108876

RA 330.8321° · Dec -16.6265° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
21 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Variable star +5
  • On the zodiac +3
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 21

1 more point to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • 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 10.9 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Aquarius.
  • 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. ≈ 15.8 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 1.4 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
3.714
bv
0.774
constellation
Aqr
dist ly
900.9834
luminosity
2.8471
mag
10.92
name
HIP 108876
spect
pec
var amplitude
0.65
var designation
U
var max
10.734
var min
11.384

About HIP 108876

HIP 108876 is a common variable star. It lies about 901 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aqr, shines at apparent magnitude 10.92 and has spectral type pec.

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.

How to see it

Look for HIP 108876 in the constellation Aqr. At apparent magnitude 10.92, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 108876 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 108876 is a common variable star

HIP 108876 scores 21 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Variable star, On the zodiac, 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.