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Uncommon variable star 25 EP

21 Mon

RA 107.8484° · Dec -0.3019° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
25 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Variable star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • Yellow-white F-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 25

9 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • Yellow-white F-type star · +3
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads F2V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
  • 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 5.4 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 January — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Properties

absmag
0.738
bv
0.31
constellation
Mon
dist ly
284.3558
luminosity
44.1367
mag
5.44
name
21 Mon
spect
F2V
var amplitude
0.07
var designation
V571
var max
5.407
var min
5.477

About 21 Mon

21 Mon is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 284.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Mon, shines at apparent magnitude 5.44 and has spectral type F2V.

Its spectrum reads F2V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.

How to see it

Look for 21 Mon in the constellation Mon. At apparent magnitude 5.44, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 21 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 21 Mon is an uncommon variable star

21 Mon 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, Naked-eye visible, Yellow-white F-type star, Main-sequence 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.