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Uncommon variable star 29 EP

HD 9808

RA 23.8996° · Dec -11.9419° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
29 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Yellow-white F-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 29

5 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Yellow-white F-type star · +3
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • 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 9.2 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Cetus.
  • 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Properties

absmag
0.872
bv
0.331
constellation
Cet
dist ly
1489.2968
luminosity
39.0122
mag
9.17
name
HD 9808
spect
F0V
var amplitude
1.03
var designation
WY
var max
9.13
var min
10.16

About HD 9808

HD 9808 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 1,489.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cet, shines at apparent magnitude 9.17 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 HD 9808 in the constellation Cet. At apparent magnitude 9.17, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 9808 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 9808 is an uncommon variable star

HD 9808 scores 29 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Yellow-white F-type star, Main-sequence star, Strongly 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.