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Epic variable star 59 EP

15 Mon

RA 100.2444° · Dec 9.8958° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
59 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Blazing O-type star +26
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) +10
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Variable star +5
  • Blue-white star +5
  • A named variable star +3
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) +2
Total score 59

19 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • Blazing O-type star · +26
  • Blue-white star · +5
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) · +10
  • Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) · +2
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads O7 — an O-type star — the hottest, rarest main class there is. Fewer than one star in a million is an O, and none of them lasts long.
  • 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 4.7 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, 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.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 16.1 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-2.589
bv
-0.233
constellation
Mon
dist ly
918.7492
luminosity
945.366
mag
4.66
name
15 Mon
spect
O7
var amplitude
0.04
var designation
S
var max
4.635
var min
4.675

About 15 Mon

15 Mon is an epic variable star. It lies about 918.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Mon, shines at apparent magnitude 4.66 and has spectral type O7.

Its spectrum reads O7 — an O-type star — the hottest, rarest main class there is. Fewer than one star in a million is an O, and none of them lasts long.

How to see it

Look for 15 Mon in the constellation Mon. At apparent magnitude 4.66, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 15 Mon 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 15 Mon is an epic variable star

15 Mon scores 59 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 19 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, Blazing O-type star, Blue-white star, Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2), Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) 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.