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Rare variable star 46 EP

35Lam Tau

RA 60.1701° · Dec 12.4903° · star

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Score breakdown

· 9 badges
46 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) +10
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Hot blue B-type star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Blue-white star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • On the zodiac +3
  • A named variable star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 46

4 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Hot blue B-type star · +6
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Blue-white star · +5
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) · +10
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads B3V + A — a blue-white B-type star, with a surface tens of thousands of degrees hot and a life measured in tens of millions of years.
  • 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 3.4 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Taurus.
  • 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
-2.447
bv
-0.099
constellation
Tau
dist ly
483.9111
luminosity
829.4687
mag
3.41
name
35Lam Tau
spect
B3V + A
var amplitude
0.1
var designation
Lam
var max
3.393
var min
3.493

About 35Lam Tau

35Lam Tau is a rare variable star. It lies about 483.9 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Tau, shines at apparent magnitude 3.41 and has spectral type B3V + A.

Its spectrum reads B3V + A — a blue-white B-type star, with a surface tens of thousands of degrees hot and a life measured in tens of millions of years.

How to see it

Look for 35Lam Tau in the constellation Tau. At apparent magnitude 3.41, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 35Lam Tau 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 35Lam Tau is a rare variable star

35Lam Tau 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 9 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, On the zodiac, Hot blue B-type star, Main-sequence star, Blue-white star, Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) and Gently variable — 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.