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Epic variable star 54 EP

HIP 9057

RA 29.1587° · Dec 59.2594° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
54 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Carbon star (sooty red) +24
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Deep red star +8
  • Variable star +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 54

24 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Carbon star (sooty red) · +24
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads C0ev — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.
  • 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 9.7 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Cassiopeia.
  • 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 16.6 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
2.435
bv
2.1
constellation
Cas
dist ly
942.6473
luminosity
9.247
mag
9.74
name
HIP 9057
spect
C0ev
var amplitude
1.57
var designation
X
var max
8.909
var min
10.479

About HIP 9057

HIP 9057 is an epic variable star. It lies about 942.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cas, shines at apparent magnitude 9.74 and has spectral type C0ev.

Its spectrum reads C0ev — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.

How to see it

Look for HIP 9057 in the constellation Cas. At apparent magnitude 9.74, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 9057 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 9057 is an epic variable star

HIP 9057 scores 54 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 24 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Carbon star (sooty red), Deep red 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.