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Epic variable star 53 EP

HD 26750

RA 63.3734° · Dec -10.3872° · star

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Score breakdown

· 8 badges
53 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) +10
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Giant star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 53

25 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Giant star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) · +10
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M6III — 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 7.2 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Properties

absmag
-2.543
bv
1.523
constellation
Eri
dist ly
2938.3423
luminosity
906.1498
mag
7.23
name
HD 26750
spect
M6III
var amplitude
0.92
var designation
BM
var max
6.796
var min
7.716

About HD 26750

HD 26750 is an epic variable star. It lies about 2,938.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Eri, shines at apparent magnitude 7.23 and has spectral type M6III.

Its spectrum reads M6III — 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 26750 in the constellation Eri. At apparent magnitude 7.23, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 26750 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 26750 is an epic variable star

HD 26750 scores 53 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 25 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 8 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Cool red M-type star, Giant star, Deep red star, Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2), Strongly 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.