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Uncommon variable star 28 EP

HD 9277

RA 22.9353° · Dec 22.7412° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
28 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Giant star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) +2
Total score 28

6 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Giant star · +6
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) · +2
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K0III-IV — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.
  • 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 8.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, 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 October — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Properties

absmag
-0.999
bv
1.038
constellation
Psc
dist ly
2296.8734
luminosity
218.5748
mag
8.24
name
HD 9277
spect
K0III-IV
var amplitude
0.05
var designation
AE
var max
8.22
var min
8.27

About HD 9277

HD 9277 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 2,296.9 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Psc, shines at apparent magnitude 8.24 and has spectral type K0III-IV.

Its spectrum reads K0III-IV — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

How to see it

Look for HD 9277 in the constellation Psc. At apparent magnitude 8.24, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 9277 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 9277 is an uncommon variable star

HD 9277 scores 28 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), On the zodiac, Orange K-type star, Giant 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.