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Rare variable star 43 EP

53 Psc

RA 9.1971° · Dec 15.2317° · star

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Score breakdown

· 9 badges
43 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Hot blue B-type star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • Blue-white star +5
  • On the zodiac +3
  • A named variable star +3
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) +2
Total score 43

7 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Hot blue B-type star · +6
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5
  • Blue-white star · +5
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) · +2
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads B2.5IV — a blue-white B-type star, with a surface tens of thousands of degrees hot and a life measured in tens of millions of years.
  • Where it is in life. It is a subgiant, caught in the act of leaving the main sequence as the hydrogen in its core runs out.
  • 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 5.9 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Pisces.
  • 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Properties

absmag
-1.625
bv
-0.146
constellation
Psc
dist ly
1038.7133
luminosity
389.0451
mag
5.89
name
53 Psc
spect
B2.5IV
var amplitude
0.02
var designation
AG
var max
5.886
var min
5.906

About 53 Psc

53 Psc is a rare variable star. It lies about 1,038.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Psc, shines at apparent magnitude 5.89 and has spectral type B2.5IV.

Its spectrum reads B2.5IV — a blue-white B-type star, with a surface tens of thousands of degrees hot and a life measured in tens of millions of years.

How to see it

Look for 53 Psc in the constellation Psc. At apparent magnitude 5.89, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 53 Psc 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 53 Psc is a rare variable star

53 Psc scores 43 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 9 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Naked-eye visible, On the zodiac, Hot blue B-type star, Subgiant (leaving the main sequence), Blue-white star and Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) — 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.