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Uncommon variable star 31 EP

HD 4860

RA 12.4844° · Dec -57.3862° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
31 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 31

3 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Giant star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M4III — 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 giant. It has already exhausted its core hydrogen and swollen up enormously in response.
  • 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 7.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Phoenix.
  • 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 October — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

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

Properties

absmag
0.031
bv
1.558
constellation
Phe
dist ly
881.5028
luminosity
84.6447
mag
7.19
name
HD 4860
spect
M4III
var amplitude
0.11
var designation
BU
var max
7.131
var min
7.241

About HD 4860

HD 4860 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 881.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Phe, shines at apparent magnitude 7.19 and has spectral type M4III.

Its spectrum reads M4III — 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 HD 4860 in the constellation Phe. At apparent magnitude 7.19, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 4860 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 4860 is an uncommon variable star

HD 4860 scores 31 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Cool red M-type star, Giant star, 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.