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Rare variable star 40 EP

HD 28487

RA 67.4123° · Dec 5.1643° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
40 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Bright giant +12
  • Deep red star +8
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • On the zodiac +3
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 40

10 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Bright giant · +12
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M3II — 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 bright giant, well on its way to the largest stars there are.
  • 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 6.9 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Taurus.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • 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
-0.295
bv
1.74
constellation
Tau
dist ly
908.5124
luminosity
114.2878
mag
6.93
name
HD 28487
spect
M3II
var amplitude
0.2
var designation
V1145
var max
6.861
var min
7.061

About HD 28487

HD 28487 is a rare variable star. It lies about 908.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Tau, shines at apparent magnitude 6.93 and has spectral type M3II.

Its spectrum reads M3II — 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 28487 in the constellation Tau. At apparent magnitude 6.93, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 28487 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 28487 is a rare variable star

HD 28487 scores 40 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 10 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, On the zodiac, Cool red M-type star, Bright giant, 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.