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Uncommon variable star 26 EP

HIP 8163

RA 26.2486° · Dec -30.0593° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
26 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Variable star +5
  • Blue-white star +5
  • Yellow-white F-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 26

8 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Yellow-white F-type star · +3
  • Blue-white star · +5
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads F2 — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the 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. 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 11.4 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Sculptor.
  • 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 10.6 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
5.064
bv
-0.052
constellation
Scl
dist ly
600.6557
luminosity
0.8211
mag
11.39
name
HIP 8163
spect
F2
var amplitude
0.57
var designation
SV
var max
11.195
var min
11.765

About HIP 8163

HIP 8163 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 600.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Scl, shines at apparent magnitude 11.39 and has spectral type F2.

Its spectrum reads F2 — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.

How to see it

Look for HIP 8163 in the constellation Scl. At apparent magnitude 11.39, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 8163 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 HIP 8163 is an uncommon variable star

HIP 8163 scores 26 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 8 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, Yellow-white F-type star, Blue-white 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.