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Uncommon variable star 25 EP

HIP 390

RA 1.2117° · Dec 50.2349° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
25 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Variable star +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Yellow-white F-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 25

9 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Yellow-white F-type star · +3
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads F7 — 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 11.7 you'll want a small backyard telescope, 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.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 11.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
5.216
constellation
Cas
dist ly
637.0234
luminosity
0.7138
mag
11.67
name
HIP 390
spect
F7
var amplitude
0.64
var designation
IX
var max
11.177
var min
11.817

About HIP 390

HIP 390 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 637 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cas, shines at apparent magnitude 11.67 and has spectral type F7.

Its spectrum reads F7 — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.

How to see it

Look for HIP 390 in the constellation Cas. At apparent magnitude 11.67, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 390 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 390 is an uncommon variable star

HIP 390 scores 25 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Yellow-white F-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.