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Rare variable star 46 EP

HR 1170

RA 57.2838° · Dec 43.9631° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
46 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
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 46

4 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5
  • 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 A9IV — 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 a subgiant, caught in the act of leaving the main sequence as the hydrogen in its core runs out.
  • 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 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.

Properties

absmag
1.598
bv
0.279
constellation
Per
dist ly
241.9556
luminosity
19.9894
mag
5.95
name
HR 1170
spect
A9IV
var amplitude
0.1
var designation
V376
var max
5.901
var min
6.001

About HR 1170

HR 1170 is a rare variable star. It lies about 242 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Per, shines at apparent magnitude 5.95 and has spectral type A9IV.

Its spectrum reads A9IV — 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 1170 in the constellation Per. At apparent magnitude 5.95, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, HR 1170 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 1170 is a rare variable star

HR 1170 scores 46 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, White A-type star, Subgiant (leaving the main sequence), 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.