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Uncommon variable star 25 EP

HD 44701

RA 95.7561° · Dec -3.2770° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
25 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Hot blue B-type star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Blue-white star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 25

9 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Hot blue B-type star · +6
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Blue-white star · +5
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads B5V — a blue-white B-type star, with a surface tens of thousands of degrees hot and a life measured in tens of millions of years.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.
  • 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 6.6 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Monoceros.
  • 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.

Properties

absmag
-0.854
bv
-0.148
constellation
Mon
dist ly
991.3557
luminosity
191.2494
mag
6.56
name
HD 44701
spect
B5V
var amplitude
0.08
var designation
IM
var max
6.542
var min
6.622

About HD 44701

HD 44701 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 991.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Mon, shines at apparent magnitude 6.56 and has spectral type B5V.

Its spectrum reads B5V — a blue-white B-type star, with a surface tens of thousands of degrees hot and a life measured in tens of millions of years.

How to see it

Look for HD 44701 in the constellation Mon. At apparent magnitude 6.56, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 44701 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 44701 is an uncommon variable star

HD 44701 scores 25 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Hot blue B-type star, Main-sequence star, Blue-white 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.