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Common variable star 19 EP

HD 12180

RA 29.7530° · Dec -22.9198° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
19 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Variable star +5
  • White A-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 19

3 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads A7/8V + G — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.
  • 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 6.6 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 6.4 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
1.389
bv
0.478
constellation
Cet
dist ly
362.7986
luminosity
24.2326
mag
6.62
name
HD 12180
spect
A7/8V + G
var amplitude
0.29
var designation
AA
var max
6.558
var min
6.848

About HD 12180

HD 12180 is a common variable star. It lies about 362.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cet, shines at apparent magnitude 6.62 and has spectral type A7/8V + G.

Its spectrum reads A7/8V + G — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.

How to see it

Look for HD 12180 in the constellation Cet. At apparent magnitude 6.62, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 12180 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 12180 is a common variable star

HD 12180 scores 19 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, White A-type star, Main-sequence 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.