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Uncommon variable star 24 EP

HD 5996

RA 15.7374° · Dec 69.2271° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
24 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Variable star +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 24

10 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G5 — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own 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. Inside our stellar backyard: every radio broadcast humanity has ever made has already swept past it.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 7.7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, 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 October — 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. ≈ 1.5 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
5.638
bv
0.756
constellation
Cas
dist ly
83.1606
luminosity
0.4839
mag
7.67
name
HD 5996
spect
G5
var amplitude
0.06
var designation
V966
var max
7.642
var min
7.702

About HD 5996

HD 5996 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 83.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cas, shines at apparent magnitude 7.67 and has spectral type G5.

Its spectrum reads G5 — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 5996 in the constellation Cas. At apparent magnitude 7.67, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 5996 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 5996 is an uncommon variable star

HD 5996 scores 24 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 10 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Sun-like G-type 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.