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Common variable star 15 EP

44 Cet

RA 21.0106° · Dec -8.0074° · 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 F0V — 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 6.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Cetus.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • 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
2.063
bv
0.235
constellation
Cet
dist ly
220.2267
luminosity
13.0257
mag
6.21
name
44 Cet
spect
F0V
var amplitude
0.02
var designation
AV
var max
6.198
var min
6.218

About 44 Cet

44 Cet is a common variable star. It lies about 220.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cet, shines at apparent magnitude 6.21 and has spectral type F0V.

Its spectrum reads F0V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.

How to see it

Look for 44 Cet in the constellation Cet. At apparent magnitude 6.21, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, 44 Cet 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 44 Cet is a common variable star

44 Cet 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.