RA 38.7816° · Dec 3.7325° · star
11 more points to reach Epic.
HIP 12031 is a rare variable star. It lies about 299.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cet, shines at apparent magnitude 12.41 and has spectral type DAwe....
Its spectrum reads DAwe... — a white dwarf — the exposed, Earth-sized cinder of a dead star, with nothing left to burn.
Look for HIP 12031 in the constellation Cet. At apparent magnitude 12.41, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.
Like any astronomical target, HIP 12031 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.
HIP 12031 scores 39 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, White dwarf (a burnt-out core), Blue-white 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.