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Common variable star 15 EP

HD 26298

RA 62.2823° · Dec -16.3994° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
15 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Variable star +5
  • Yellow-white F-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) +2
Total score 15

7 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Yellow-white F-type star · +3
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) · +2
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads F0/F2V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
  • 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 8.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Eridanus.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south 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. ≈ 8.1 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
2.419
bv
0.361
constellation
Eri
dist ly
458.7286
luminosity
9.3843
mag
8.16
name
HD 26298
spect
F0/F2V
var amplitude
0.05
var designation
IK
var max
8.134
var min
8.184

About HD 26298

HD 26298 is a common variable star. It lies about 458.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Eri, shines at apparent magnitude 8.16 and has spectral type F0/F2V.

Its spectrum reads F0/F2V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 26298 in the constellation Eri. At apparent magnitude 8.16, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 26298 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 26298 is a common variable star

HD 26298 scores 15 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, Yellow-white F-type star, Main-sequence star, Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) 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.