← Back to dex
Trash variable star 13 EP

Mira

RA 34.8366° · Dec -2.9776° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 2 badges
13 pts · Trash
Trash 15 pts → Common
  • Has a proper name +8
  • Variable star +5
Total score 13

2 more points to reach Common.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Has a proper name · +8

Trivia

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 5.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 466.8 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.
  • At 10% light speed. ≈ 2990 years in a starship at a tenth of light speed.
  • Distance. 299 light-years from Earth.

Look-back time

  • Look-back time. The light you'd see left around the year 1727.

Saying hello

  • Say hello. A radio message and its reply would take 598 years round-trip.

How we found it

  • Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.

Properties

absmag
1.659
bv
0.966
constellation
Cet
dist ly
298.9513
mag
6.47
name
Mira
named
yes
spect
M5e-M9e

About Mira

Mira is a trash variable star. It lies about 299 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cet, shines at apparent magnitude 6.47 and has spectral type M5e-M9e.

Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.

How to see it

Look for Mira in the constellation Cet. At apparent magnitude 6.47, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, Mira 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 Mira is a trash variable star

Mira scores 13 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 2 science badges — Variable star and Has a proper name — 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.

spacedle A daily roll through the real universe. © 2026 spacedle. Buy me a coffee

Sky imagery and survey data courtesy of Aladin Lite & CDS, Strasbourg. Object data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, JPL Small-Body Database, and the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue.