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Uncommon variable star 31 EP

68Del3Tau

RA 66.3724° · Dec 17.9279° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
31 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Variable star +5
  • White A-type star +5
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • On the zodiac +3
  • A named variable star +3
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) +2
Total score 31

3 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) · +2
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads A2IV — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.
  • Where it is in life. It is a subgiant, caught in the act of leaving the main sequence as the hydrogen in its core runs out.
  • 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 4.3 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Taurus.
  • 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Properties

absmag
1.008
bv
0.049
constellation
Tau
dist ly
148.5226
luminosity
34.4191
mag
4.3
name
68Del3Tau
spect
A2IV
var amplitude
0.01
var designation
V776
var max
4.299
var min
4.309

About 68Del3Tau

68Del3Tau is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 148.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Tau, shines at apparent magnitude 4.3 and has spectral type A2IV.

Its spectrum reads A2IV — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.

How to see it

Look for 68Del3Tau in the constellation Tau. At apparent magnitude 4.3, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 68Del3Tau 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 68Del3Tau is an uncommon variable star

68Del3Tau scores 31 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, On the zodiac, White A-type star, Subgiant (leaving the main sequence), 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.