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Uncommon variable star 31 EP

59 Ori

RA 89.6018° · Dec 1.8371° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
31 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • In Orion's hunting ground +6
  • Variable star +5
  • White A-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 31

3 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • In Orion's hunting ground · +6
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads A5me del Del — 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.
  • 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 5.9 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 6.4 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.649
bv
0.223
constellation
Ori
dist ly
364.42
luminosity
47.9071
mag
5.89
name
59 Ori
spect
A5me del Del
var amplitude
0.06
var designation
V1004
var max
5.863
var min
5.923

About 59 Ori

59 Ori is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 364.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ori, shines at apparent magnitude 5.89 and has spectral type A5me del Del.

Its spectrum reads A5me del Del — 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 59 Ori in the constellation Ori. At apparent magnitude 5.89, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 59 Ori 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 59 Ori is an uncommon variable star

59 Ori 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 6 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, In Orion's hunting ground, White A-type 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.