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Uncommon variable star 24 EP

HD 223338

RA 357.1917° · Dec -8.1457° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
24 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Yellow-white F-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 24

10 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Yellow-white F-type star · +3
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads F0 — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the 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 9.4 you'll want a small backyard telescope, 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 42.8 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.016
bv
0.274
constellation
Aqr
dist ly
2434.0001
luminosity
85.8223
mag
9.38
name
HD 223338
spect
F0
var amplitude
0.46
var designation
BS
var max
9.131
var min
9.591

About HD 223338

HD 223338 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 2,434 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aqr, shines at apparent magnitude 9.38 and has spectral type F0.

Its spectrum reads F0 — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 223338 in the constellation Aqr. At apparent magnitude 9.38, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 223338 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 HD 223338 is an uncommon variable star

HD 223338 scores 24 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 10 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), On the zodiac, Yellow-white F-type 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.