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Uncommon variable star 25 EP

HD 14643

RA 34.5034° · Dec -71.4674° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
25 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Variable star +5
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 25

9 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G1:IVp — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own 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 8.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Hydrus.
  • Southern sky only. So far south it never rises for most of the northern hemisphere. To see it you'd have to travel to Chile, South Africa or Australia.
  • 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. ≈ 12.7 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
1.446
bv
0.8
constellation
Hyi
dist ly
724.791
luminosity
22.9932
mag
8.18
name
HD 14643
spect
G1:IVp
var amplitude
0.13
var designation
BQ
var max
8.126
var min
8.256

About HD 14643

HD 14643 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 724.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Hyi, shines at apparent magnitude 8.18 and has spectral type G1:IVp.

Its spectrum reads G1:IVp — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 14643 in the constellation Hyi. At apparent magnitude 8.18, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 14643 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 14643 is an uncommon variable star

HD 14643 scores 25 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, Sun-like G-type star, Subgiant (leaving the main sequence), 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.