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Rare variable star 45 EP

HR 2203

RA 92.5434° · Dec -40.3538° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
45 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Bright giant +12
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Deep red star +8
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 45

5 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • 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 M2II/III — 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 5.5 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, 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.

Properties

absmag
-1.544
bv
1.665
constellation
Col
dist ly
851.5822
luminosity
361.0771
mag
5.54
name
HR 2203
spect
M2II/III
var amplitude
0.22
var designation
AF
var max
5.414
var min
5.634

About HR 2203

HR 2203 is a rare variable star. It lies about 851.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Col, shines at apparent magnitude 5.54 and has spectral type M2II/III.

Its spectrum reads M2II/III — 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 HR 2203 in the constellation Col. At apparent magnitude 5.54, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, HR 2203 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 HR 2203 is a rare variable star

HR 2203 scores 45 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, 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.