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Trash variable star 13 EP

HD 20678

RA 50.2476° · Dec 33.2183° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
13 pts · Trash
Trash 15 pts → Common
  • Variable star +5
  • Orange K-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) +2
Total score 13

2 more points to reach Common.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) · +2
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K0 — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.
  • 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 7.9 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Perseus.
  • 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 November — 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. ≈ 2.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
5.055
bv
0.728
constellation
Per
dist ly
123.1709
luminosity
0.8279
mag
7.94
name
HD 20678
spect
K0
var amplitude
0.05
var designation
V686
var max
7.923
var min
7.973

About HD 20678

HD 20678 is a trash variable star. It lies about 123.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Per, shines at apparent magnitude 7.94 and has spectral type K0.

Its spectrum reads K0 — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

How to see it

Look for HD 20678 in the constellation Per. At apparent magnitude 7.94, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 20678 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 20678 is a trash variable star

HD 20678 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 4 science badges — Variable star, Orange K-type star, Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) 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.