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Rare variable star 35 EP

HIP 24156

RA 77.8104° · Dec -8.5569° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
35 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • In Orion's hunting ground +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Yellow-white F-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 35

15 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • In Orion's hunting ground · +6
  • Yellow-white F-type star · +3
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads F8V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.
  • 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 9.4 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Orion.
  • 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 December — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Properties

absmag
1.337
bv
0.486
constellation
Ori
dist ly
1336.705
luminosity
25.4214
mag
9.4
name
HIP 24156
spect
F8V
var amplitude
0.56
var designation
ER
var max
9.278
var min
9.838

About HIP 24156

HIP 24156 is a rare variable star. It lies about 1,336.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ori, shines at apparent magnitude 9.4 and has spectral type F8V.

Its spectrum reads F8V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.

How to see it

Look for HIP 24156 in the constellation Ori. At apparent magnitude 9.4, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 24156 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 HIP 24156 is a rare variable star

HIP 24156 scores 35 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 15 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), In Orion's hunting ground, Yellow-white F-type star, Main-sequence star, 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.