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Rare variable star 35 EP

HD 10572

RA 25.6490° · Dec -20.1726° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
35 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Giant star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • Orange K-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 35

15 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • 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 K2/K3III — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.
  • 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 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.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 24.7 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-0.993
bv
1.414
constellation
Cet
dist ly
1405.8449
luminosity
217.3702
mag
7.18
name
HD 10572
spect
K2/K3III
var amplitude
0.07
var designation
DD
var max
7.142
var min
7.212

About HD 10572

HD 10572 is a rare variable star. It lies about 1,405.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cet, shines at apparent magnitude 7.18 and has spectral type K2/K3III.

Its spectrum reads K2/K3III — 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 10572 in the constellation Cet. At apparent magnitude 7.18, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 10572 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 10572 is a rare variable star

HD 10572 scores 35 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 15 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

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