Uncommon variable star 29 EP

HIP 112868

RA 342.8466° · Dec 18.1188° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges

29 pts · Uncommon

Uncommon 34 pts → Rare

Bright giant +12
Variable star +5
Cool red M-type star +5
Gently variable +4
A named variable star +3

Total score 29

5 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

Variable star · +5
Cool red M-type star · +5
Bright giant · +12
Gently variable · +4
A named variable star · +3

Trivia

Hard to believe

True brightness. It pours out about 1.4 million 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 M5II-IIIvar — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.
Where it is in life. It is a bright giant, well on its way to the largest stars there are.
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 9.5 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Pegasus.
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 September — that's when to go looking.

Its true colour

Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out orange (B−V 1.2) — cooler than the Sun, and the kind of star that burns steadily for tens of billions of years.

Properties

absmag: -10.52
bv: 1.162
constellation: Peg
luminosity: 1406047.5241
mag: 9.48
name: HIP 112868
spect: M5II-IIIvar
var amplitude: 0.47
var designation: AF
var max: 9.156
var min: 9.626

Nearby objects

About HIP 112868

HIP 112868 is an uncommon variable star. It sits in the constellation Peg, shines at apparent magnitude 9.48 and has spectral type M5II-IIIvar.

Its spectrum reads M5II-IIIvar — 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 HIP 112868 in the constellation Peg. At apparent magnitude 9.48, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 112868 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 112868 is an uncommon variable star

HIP 112868 scores 29 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, Cool red M-type star, Bright giant, 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.