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Common variable star 15 EP

HR 170

RA 9.9908° · Dec -33.9614° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
15 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Variable star +5
  • Yellow-white F-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) +2
Total score 15

7 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Yellow-white F-type star · +3
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) · +2
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads F7V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.
  • 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 6.7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Sculptor.
  • 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.

Properties

absmag
3.661
bv
0.519
constellation
Scl
dist ly
130.9862
luminosity
2.9895
mag
6.68
name
HR 170
spect
F7V
var amplitude
0.03
var designation
Z
var max
6.667
var min
6.697

About HR 170

HR 170 is a common variable star. It lies about 131 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Scl, shines at apparent magnitude 6.68 and has spectral type F7V.

Its spectrum reads F7V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.

How to see it

Look for HR 170 in the constellation Scl. At apparent magnitude 6.68, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HR 170 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 HR 170 is a common variable star

HR 170 scores 15 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, Yellow-white F-type star, Main-sequence star, Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) 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.