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Rare variable star 46 EP

HR 8714

RA 343.6484° · Dec 16.9418° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
46 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • S-type star (zirconium giant) +20
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 46

4 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • S-type star (zirconium giant) · +20
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads S51 — an S-type giant, its atmosphere laced with zirconium dredged up from the fusion going on below.
  • 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 6.4 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, 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.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 24 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-1.718
bv
1.729
constellation
Peg
dist ly
1364.6693
luminosity
423.8381
mag
6.39
name
HR 8714
spect
S51
var amplitude
0.23
var designation
HR
var max
6.284
var min
6.514

About HR 8714

HR 8714 is a rare variable star. It lies about 1,364.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Peg, shines at apparent magnitude 6.39 and has spectral type S51.

Its spectrum reads S51 — an S-type giant, its atmosphere laced with zirconium dredged up from the fusion going on below.

How to see it

Look for HR 8714 in the constellation Peg. At apparent magnitude 6.39, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HR 8714 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 HR 8714 is a rare variable star

HR 8714 scores 46 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), S-type star (zirconium giant), 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.