← Back to dex
Epic variable star 55 EP

HD 44213

RA 95.2014° · Dec 5.7406° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 8 badges
55 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Supergiant +18
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • In Orion's hunting ground +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 55

23 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • In Orion's hunting ground · +6
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Supergiant · +18
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M3Ib-II — 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 supergiant, hundreds of times wider than the Sun.
  • 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 8.1 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, 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
-1.675
bv
1.93
constellation
Ori
dist ly
2886.3364
luminosity
407.3803
mag
8.06
name
HD 44213
spect
M3Ib-II
var amplitude
0.16
var designation
V1056
var max
7.96
var min
8.12

About HD 44213

HD 44213 is an epic variable star. It lies about 2,886.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ori, shines at apparent magnitude 8.06 and has spectral type M3Ib-II.

Its spectrum reads M3Ib-II — 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 HD 44213 in the constellation Ori. At apparent magnitude 8.06, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 44213 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 HD 44213 is an epic variable star

HD 44213 scores 55 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 23 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 8 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), In Orion's hunting ground, Cool red M-type star, Supergiant, 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.