Rare variable star 39 EP

HD 271044

RA 77.5368° · Dec -64.3179° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges

39 pts · Rare

Rare 50 pts → Epic

Dramatic variable (over 2 magnitudes) +20
Giant star +6
Variable star +5
Cool red M-type star +5
A named variable star +3

Total score 39

11 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

Variable star · +5
Cool red M-type star · +5
Giant star · +6
Dramatic variable (over 2 magnitudes) · +20
A named variable star · +3

Trivia

Hard to believe

True brightness. It pours out about 1 million times as much light as the Sun. It only looks ordinary because it is so far away.

What it actually is

Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M8IIIe — 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.

Find it in the sky

How to spot it. At magnitude 9.8 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Dorado.
Southern sky only. So far south it never rises for most of the northern hemisphere. To see it you'd have to travel to Chile, South Africa or Australia.
Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around December — that's when to go looking.

Its true colour

Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out orange (B−V 1) — cooler than the Sun, and the kind of star that burns steadily for tens of billions of years.

Properties

absmag: -10.2
bv: 1.043
constellation: Dor
luminosity: 1047128.5481
mag: 9.8
name: HD 271044
spect: M8IIIe
var amplitude: 3.81
var designation: U
var max: 7.535
var min: 11.345

Nearby objects

About HD 271044

HD 271044 is a rare variable star. It sits in the constellation Dor, shines at apparent magnitude 9.8 and has spectral type M8IIIe.

Its spectrum reads M8IIIe — 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 271044 in the constellation Dor. At apparent magnitude 9.8, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 271044 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 271044 is a rare variable star

HD 271044 scores 39 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, Cool red M-type star, Giant star, Dramatic variable (over 2 magnitudes) 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.