Rare variable star 35 EP

HIP 116883

RA 355.3737° · Dec 47.5955° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges

35 pts · Rare

Rare 50 pts → Epic

Strongly variable +10
Deep red star +8
Giant star +6
Variable star +5
Orange K-type star +3
A named variable star +3

Total score 35

15 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

Variable star · +5
Orange K-type star · +3
Giant star · +6
Deep red star · +8
Strongly variable · +10
A named variable star · +3

Trivia

Hard to believe

True brightness. It pours out about 2.2 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 K5III — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.
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.

Find it in the sky

How to spot it. At magnitude 9 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Andromeda.
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 deep orange-red (B−V 1.7) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

Properties

absmag: -11.04
bv: 1.675
constellation: And
luminosity: 2269864.8519
mag: 8.96
name: HIP 116883
spect: K5III
var amplitude: 0.77
var designation: WY
var max: 8.661
var min: 9.431

Nearby objects

About HIP 116883

HIP 116883 is a rare variable star. It sits in the constellation And, shines at apparent magnitude 8.96 and has spectral type K5III.

Its spectrum reads K5III — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

How to see it

Look for HIP 116883 in the constellation And. At apparent magnitude 8.96, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 116883 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 116883 is a rare variable star

HIP 116883 scores 35 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 15 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Orange K-type star, Giant 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.