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Rare variable star 36 EP

HIP 117154

RA 356.2610° · Dec 63.0039° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
36 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 36

14 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G0.5 — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • 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 10.6 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Cassiopeia.
  • Never sets. So far north that from Britain, Canada or northern Europe it never dips below the horizon — it is up every clear night of the year.
  • 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. ≈ 21.7 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
2.688
bv
1.27
constellation
Cas
dist ly
1235.4395
luminosity
7.3249
mag
10.58
name
HIP 117154
spect
G0.5
var amplitude
0.78
var designation
CD
var max
10.344
var min
11.124

About HIP 117154

HIP 117154 is a rare variable star. It lies about 1,235.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cas, shines at apparent magnitude 10.58 and has spectral type G0.5.

Its spectrum reads G0.5 — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HIP 117154 in the constellation Cas. At apparent magnitude 10.58, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 117154 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 117154 is a rare variable star

HIP 117154 scores 36 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 14 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Never sets (northern circumpolar), Sun-like G-type 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.