← Back to dex
Common variable star 19 EP

HD 1869

RA 5.7373° · Dec -20.6566° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 5 badges
19 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Variable star +5
  • White A-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 19

3 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads A8/A9V — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.
  • 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 10.4 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Cetus.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south 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. ≈ 10.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
4.109
bv
0.3
constellation
Cet
dist ly
585.5583
luminosity
1.9788
mag
10.38
name
HD 1869
spect
A8/A9V
var amplitude
0.29
var designation
CK
var max
10.307
var min
10.597

About HD 1869

HD 1869 is a common variable star. It lies about 585.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cet, shines at apparent magnitude 10.38 and has spectral type A8/A9V.

Its spectrum reads A8/A9V — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.

How to see it

Look for HD 1869 in the constellation Cet. At apparent magnitude 10.38, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 1869 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 1869 is a common variable star

HD 1869 scores 19 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, White A-type star, Main-sequence 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.