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Common variable star 23 EP

Red Rectangle

RA 94.9926° · Dec -10.6374° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
23 pts · Common
Common 24 pts → Uncommon
  • Distant (>1000 ly) +10
  • Has a proper name +8
  • Variable star +5
Total score 23

1 more point to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (>1000 ly) · +10
  • Has a proper name · +8

Trivia

Could we get there?

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

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 25.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 2.2 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.
  • At 10% light speed. ≈ 14.4 thousand years in a starship at a tenth of light speed.
  • Distance. 1437 light-years from Earth.

Look-back time

  • Look-back time. The light you'd see left around the year 589.

Saying hello

  • Say hello. A radio message and its reply would take 2874 years round-trip.

How we found it

  • Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.

Properties

absmag
0.63
bv
0.344
constellation
Mon
dist ly
1436.8105
mag
8.85
name
Red Rectangle
named
yes
spect
B8

About Red Rectangle

Red Rectangle is a common variable star. It lies about 1,436.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Mon, shines at apparent magnitude 8.85 and has spectral type B8.

Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.

How to see it

Look for Red Rectangle in the constellation Mon. At apparent magnitude 8.85, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, Red Rectangle 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 Red Rectangle is a common variable star

Red Rectangle scores 23 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Variable star, Distant (>1000 ly) and Has a proper name — 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.

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Sky imagery and survey data courtesy of Aladin Lite & CDS, Strasbourg. Object data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, JPL Small-Body Database, and the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue.