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Rare variable star 37 EP

HD 26234

RA 62.7164° · Dec 42.2096° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
37 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Giant star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 37

13 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Giant star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M5IIIvar — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.
  • Where it is in life. It is a giant. It has already exhausted its core hydrogen and swollen up enormously in response.
  • 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 8.8 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Properties

absmag
1.179
bv
1.644
constellation
Per
dist ly
1105.6137
luminosity
29.4036
mag
8.83
name
HD 26234
spect
M5IIIvar
var amplitude
0.44
var designation
SW
var max
8.527
var min
8.967

About HD 26234

HD 26234 is a rare variable star. It lies about 1,105.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Per, shines at apparent magnitude 8.83 and has spectral type M5IIIvar.

Its spectrum reads M5IIIvar — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

How to see it

Look for HD 26234 in the constellation Per. At apparent magnitude 8.83, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 26234 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 26234 is a rare variable star

HD 26234 scores 37 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 13 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Cool red M-type star, Giant star, 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.