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Common variable star 20 EP

HIP 29096

RA 92.0604° · Dec -28.9947° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
20 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Deep red star +8
  • Variable star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 20

2 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • 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 11.8 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Columba.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
  • 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. ≈ 2.4 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 217.4 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
8.699
bv
1.401
constellation
Col
dist ly
139.2044
luminosity
0.0289
mag
11.85
name
HIP 29096
var amplitude
0.3
var designation
AE
var max
11.685
var min
11.985

About HIP 29096

HIP 29096 is a common variable star. It lies about 139.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Col and shines at apparent magnitude 11.85.

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.

How to see it

Look for HIP 29096 in the constellation Col. At apparent magnitude 11.85, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 29096 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 29096 is a common variable star

HIP 29096 scores 20 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Variable star, 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.