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Rare variable star 43 EP

HD 58061

RA 110.7430° · Dec -25.7675° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
43 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Bright giant +12
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Deep red star +8
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 43

7 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Bright giant · +12
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

Hard to believe

  • True brightness. It pours out about 5 million times as much light as the Sun. It only looks ordinary because it is so far away.

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M3/M4II: — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.
  • 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 8.1 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 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 2.1) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

By the numbers

  • Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 3110 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.

Properties

absmag
-11.92
bv
2.057
constellation
CMa
luminosity
5105049.9998
mag
8.08
name
HD 58061
spect
M3/M4II:
var amplitude
1.32
var designation
VY
var max
7.56
var min
8.88

About HD 58061

HD 58061 is a rare variable star. It sits in the constellation CMa, shines at apparent magnitude 8.08 and has spectral type M3/M4II:.

Its spectrum reads M3/M4II: — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

How to see it

Look for HD 58061 in the constellation CMa. At apparent magnitude 8.08, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 58061 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 58061 is a rare variable star

HD 58061 scores 43 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Cool red M-type star, Bright giant, Deep red star, Strongly 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.