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Epic variable star 60 EP

HD 54300

RA 107.1775° · Dec 10.0240° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
60 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Carbon star (sooty red) +24
  • Dramatic variable (over 2 magnitudes) +20
  • Deep red star +8
  • Variable star +5
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 60

18 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Carbon star (sooty red) · +24
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Dramatic variable (over 2 magnitudes) · +20
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads C0ev — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.
  • 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.

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 Minor.
  • Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around January — that's when to go looking.

Its true colour

  • Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out deep orange-red (B−V 2.7) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

By the numbers

  • Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 2580 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.

What's in a name

  • Its catalogue. The HD number is from the Henry Draper Catalogue, in which Annie Jump Cannon personally classified the spectra of nearly 400,000 stars — still the largest such feat by one person.

Properties

absmag
-12.17
bv
2.7
constellation
CMi
luminosity
6426877.1732
mag
7.83
name
HD 54300
spect
C0ev
var amplitude
2.35
var designation
R
var max
7.621
var min
9.971

About HD 54300

HD 54300 is an epic variable star. It sits in the constellation CMi, shines at apparent magnitude 7.83 and has spectral type C0ev.

Its spectrum reads C0ev — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.

How to see it

Look for HD 54300 in the constellation CMi. At apparent magnitude 7.83, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 54300 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 54300 is an epic variable star

HD 54300 scores 60 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 18 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, Carbon star (sooty red), Deep red star, Dramatic variable (over 2 magnitudes) 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.