← Back to dex
Uncommon variable star 24 EP

HD 25408

RA 61.4744° · Dec 61.7944° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 5 badges
24 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • Variable star +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 24

10 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads R8v — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.
  • 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.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 7.6 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Camelopardalis.
  • Never sets. So far north that from Britain, Canada or northern Europe it never dips below the horizon — it is up every clear night of the year.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around November — that's when to go looking.

Its true colour

  • Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out deep orange-red (B−V 2) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

By the numbers

  • Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 3120 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.

Properties

absmag
-12.41
bv
2.045
constellation
Cam
luminosity
8016780.6339
mag
7.59
name
HD 25408
spect
R8v
var amplitude
0.1
var designation
UV
var max
7.524
var min
7.624

About HD 25408

HD 25408 is an uncommon variable star. It sits in the constellation Cam, shines at apparent magnitude 7.59 and has spectral type R8v.

Its spectrum reads R8v — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.

How to see it

Look for HD 25408 in the constellation Cam. At apparent magnitude 7.59, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 25408 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 25408 is an uncommon variable star

HD 25408 scores 24 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 10 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Deep red 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.