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Uncommon variable star 27 EP

HD 45748

RA 97.0234° · Dec -27.1436° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
27 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Variable star +5
  • White A-type star +5
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • Blue-white star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 27

7 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5
  • Blue-white star · +5
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads A0IV/V — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.
  • Where it is in life. It is a subgiant, caught in the act of leaving the main sequence as the hydrogen in its core runs out.
  • 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 7.8 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Canis Major.
  • 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
0.563
bv
-0.039
constellation
CMa
dist ly
913.6021
luminosity
51.8561
mag
7.8
name
HD 45748
spect
A0IV/V
var amplitude
0.09
var designation
IX
var max
7.768
var min
7.858

About HD 45748

HD 45748 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 913.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation CMa, shines at apparent magnitude 7.8 and has spectral type A0IV/V.

Its spectrum reads A0IV/V — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.

How to see it

Look for HD 45748 in the constellation CMa. At apparent magnitude 7.8, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 45748 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 45748 is an uncommon variable star

HD 45748 scores 27 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, White A-type star, Subgiant (leaving the main sequence), 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.