About HR 8752
HR 8752 is an epic variable star. It sits in the constellation Cas, shines at apparent magnitude 5.1 and has spectral type G0Ia.
Its spectrum reads G0Ia — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Epic variable star 50 EP
HR 8752
RA 345.0213° · Dec 56.9454° · star
Score breakdown
· 7 badgesEpic 78 pts → Anomaly
- Supergiant +18
- Naked-eye visible +8
- Sun-like G-type star +8
- Variable star +5
- Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
- Gently variable +4
- A named variable star +3
Total score 50
28 more points to reach Anomaly.
Badges
- Variable star · +5
- Naked-eye visible · +8
- Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
- Sun-like G-type star · +8
- Supergiant · +18
- Gently variable · +4
- A named variable star · +3
Trivia
What it actually is
- Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G0Ia — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
- Where it is in life. It is a luminous supergiant — among the largest and rarest stars in the galaxy.
- 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 5.1 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Cassiopeia.
- 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) — cooler than the Sun, and the kind of star that burns steadily for tens of billions of years.
By the numbers
- Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 4720 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.
Properties
- absmag
- -14.9
- bv
- 1.011
- constellation
- Cas
- luminosity
- 79432823.4724
- mag
- 5.1
- name
- HR 8752
- spect
- G0Ia
- var amplitude
- 0.11
- var designation
- V509
- var max
- 5.046
- var min
- 5.156
How to see it
Look for HR 8752 in the constellation Cas. At apparent magnitude 5.1, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.
Like any astronomical target, HR 8752 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 8752 is an epic variable star
HR 8752 scores 50 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 28 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Sun-like G-type star, Supergiant, 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.