About HD 25878
HD 25878 is a rare variable star. It sits in the constellation Cam, shines at apparent magnitude 7.3 and has spectral type G1I (C0-20).
Its spectrum reads G1I (C0-20) — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Rare variable star 42 EP
HD 25878
RA 62.1615° · Dec 53.3609° · star
Score breakdown
· 6 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Supergiant +18
- Sun-like G-type star +8
- Variable star +5
- Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
- Gently variable +4
- A named variable star +3
Total score 42
8 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Variable star · +5
- Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
- Sun-like G-type star · +8
- Supergiant · +18
- Gently variable · +4
- A named variable star · +3
Trivia
What it actually is
- Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G1I (C0-20) — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
- Where it is in life. It is a supergiant. Drop it where the Sun is and its surface would engulf the inner planets.
- 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 7.3 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Camelopardalis.
- 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.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out orange (B−V 0.8) — cooler than the Sun, and the kind of star that burns steadily for tens of billions of years.
- Why no green stars. No star ever looks green: a surface hot enough to peak in green also floods out plenty of red and blue, and your eye blends the mixture back to white.
Properties
- absmag
- -12.7
- bv
- 0.826
- constellation
- Cam
- luminosity
- 10471285.4805
- mag
- 7.3
- name
- HD 25878
- spect
- G1I (C0-20)
- var amplitude
- 0.1
- var designation
- XX
- var max
- 7.251
- var min
- 7.351
How to see it
Look for HD 25878 in the constellation Cam. At apparent magnitude 7.3, it is an easy target for binoculars.
Like any astronomical target, HD 25878 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 25878 is a rare variable star
HD 25878 scores 42 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 8 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Sun-like G-type star, Supergiant, 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.