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Common variable star 17 EP

HD 22961

RA 55.6225° · Dec 35.6391° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
17 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Variable star +5
  • White A-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 17

5 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads A — 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.
  • 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 9.6 you'll want a small backyard telescope, 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. ≈ 15.5 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
2.391
bv
0.198
constellation
Per
dist ly
881.5028
luminosity
9.6294
mag
9.55
name
HD 22961
spect
A
var amplitude
0.08
var designation
V497
var max
9.511
var min
9.591

About HD 22961

HD 22961 is a common variable star. It lies about 881.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Per, shines at apparent magnitude 9.55 and has spectral type A.

Its spectrum reads A — 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 HD 22961 in the constellation Per. At apparent magnitude 9.55, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 22961 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 22961 is a common variable star

HD 22961 scores 17 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Variable star, White A-type 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.