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Rare variable star 43 EP

HR 1081

RA 52.6539° · Dec -47.3751° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
43 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Fades out of naked-eye view +16
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Variable star +5
  • White A-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 43

7 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Gently variable · +4
  • Fades out of naked-eye view · +16
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads A2V — 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.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.
  • 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 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Horologium.
  • 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 November — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

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

Properties

absmag
0.578
bv
0.116
constellation
Hor
dist ly
392.486
luminosity
51.1446
mag
5.98
name
HR 1081
spect
A2V
var amplitude
0.14
var designation
TU
var max
5.896
var min
6.036

About HR 1081

HR 1081 is a rare variable star. It lies about 392.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Hor, shines at apparent magnitude 5.98 and has spectral type A2V.

Its spectrum reads A2V — 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 HR 1081 in the constellation Hor. At apparent magnitude 5.98, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, HR 1081 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 HR 1081 is a rare variable star

HR 1081 scores 43 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, White A-type star, Main-sequence star, Gently variable, Fades out of naked-eye view 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.