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Uncommon variable star 26 EP

HIP 109158

RA 331.6664° · Dec 48.4519° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
26 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Deep red star +8
  • Variable star +5
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 26

8 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

Hard to believe

  • True brightness. It pours out about 765.6 thousand times as much light as the Sun. It only looks ordinary because it is so far away.

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads R — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.
  • 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.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 10.1 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Lacerta.
  • 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.

Its true colour

  • Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out deep orange-red (B−V 1.6) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

By the numbers

  • Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 3600 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.

Properties

absmag
-9.88
bv
1.637
constellation
Lac
luminosity
779830.1105
mag
10.12
name
HIP 109158
spect
R
var amplitude
1.05
var designation
CT
var max
9.766
var min
10.816

About HIP 109158

HIP 109158 is an uncommon variable star. It sits in the constellation Lac, shines at apparent magnitude 10.12 and has spectral type R.

Its spectrum reads R — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.

How to see it

Look for HIP 109158 in the constellation Lac. At apparent magnitude 10.12, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 109158 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 109158 is an uncommon variable star

HIP 109158 scores 26 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 8 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Variable star, Deep red star, 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.