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Rare variable star 42 EP

73Lam Aqr

RA 343.1536° · Dec -7.5796° · star

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Score breakdown

· 8 badges
42 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Deep red star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • On the zodiac +3
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 42

8 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Giant star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M2IIIvar — 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 giant. It has already exhausted its core hydrogen and swollen up enormously in response.
  • 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 3.7 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Aquarius.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around September — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

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

Properties

absmag
-1.631
bv
1.626
constellation
Aqr
dist ly
385.0722
luminosity
391.201
mag
3.73
name
73Lam Aqr
spect
M2IIIvar
var amplitude
0.07
var designation
Lam
var max
3.703
var min
3.773

About 73Lam Aqr

73Lam Aqr is a rare variable star. It lies about 385.1 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aqr, shines at apparent magnitude 3.73 and has spectral type M2IIIvar.

Its spectrum reads M2IIIvar — 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 73Lam Aqr in the constellation Aqr. At apparent magnitude 3.73, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 73Lam Aqr 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 73Lam Aqr is a rare variable star

73Lam Aqr scores 42 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 8 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 8 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, On the zodiac, Cool red M-type star, Giant star, Deep red 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.