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Rare variable star 47 EP

HIP 779

RA 2.4015° · Dec 62.6678° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
47 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Supergiant +18
  • Deep red star +8
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 47

3 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Supergiant · +18
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M1Ibpev comp — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.
  • Where it is in life. It is a supergiant, hundreds of times wider 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 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Properties

absmag
2.785
bv
1.565
constellation
Cas
dist ly
692.4755
luminosity
6.6988
mag
9.42
name
HIP 779
spect
M1Ibpev comp
var amplitude
0.12
var designation
KN
var max
9.372
var min
9.492

About HIP 779

HIP 779 is a rare variable star. It lies about 692.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cas, shines at apparent magnitude 9.42 and has spectral type M1Ibpev comp.

Its spectrum reads M1Ibpev comp — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

How to see it

Look for HIP 779 in the constellation Cas. At apparent magnitude 9.42, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 779 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 779 is a rare variable star

HIP 779 scores 47 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Cool red M-type star, Supergiant, Deep red 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.