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Epic variable star 71 EP

HR 2310

RA 96.3042° · Dec 7.0857° · star

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Score breakdown

· 8 badges
71 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Supergiant +18
  • Fades out of naked-eye view +16
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) +10
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Orange K-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 71

7 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Supergiant · +18
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) · +10
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • Fades out of naked-eye view · +16
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K1Iabv SB — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.
  • Where it is in life. It is a supergiant. Drop it where the Sun is and its surface would engulf the inner planets.
  • 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 6.3 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Properties

absmag
-3.326
bv
0.85
constellation
Mon
dist ly
2695.5042
luminosity
1863.803
mag
6.26
name
HR 2310
spect
K1Iabv SB
var amplitude
0.91
var designation
T
var max
5.802
var min
6.712

Nearby objects

About HR 2310

HR 2310 is an epic variable star. It lies about 2,695.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Mon, shines at apparent magnitude 6.26 and has spectral type K1Iabv SB.

Its spectrum reads K1Iabv SB — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

How to see it

Look for HR 2310 in the constellation Mon. At apparent magnitude 6.26, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HR 2310 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 2310 is an epic variable star

HR 2310 scores 71 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 8 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Orange K-type star, Supergiant, Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2), Strongly variable, Fades out of naked-eye view 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.