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Epic variable star 58 EP

9Mu 1Cnc

RA 121.5767° · Dec 22.6355° · star

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Score breakdown

· 9 badges
58 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Fades out of naked-eye view +16
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Deep red star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • On the zodiac +3
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 58

20 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Giant star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • Fades out of naked-eye view · +16
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M3III — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.
  • Where it is in life. It is a giant. It has already exhausted its core hydrogen and swollen up enormously in response.
  • 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 6 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Cancer.
  • 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.

Could we get there?

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

Properties

absmag
-0.833
bv
1.652
constellation
Cnc
dist ly
744.6484
luminosity
187.5858
mag
5.96
name
9Mu 1Cnc
spect
M3III
var amplitude
0.17
var designation
BL
var max
5.88
var min
6.05

About 9Mu 1Cnc

9Mu 1Cnc is an epic variable star. It lies about 744.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cnc, shines at apparent magnitude 5.96 and has spectral type M3III.

Its spectrum reads M3III — 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 9Mu 1Cnc in the constellation Cnc. At apparent magnitude 5.96, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 9Mu 1Cnc 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 9Mu 1Cnc is an epic variable star

9Mu 1Cnc scores 58 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 20 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 9 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, On the zodiac, Cool red M-type star, Giant star, Deep red star, Gently variable and Fades out of naked-eye view — 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.