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Uncommon variable star 23 EP

HD 72175

RA 127.5985° · Dec -30.5123° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
23 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Variable star +5
  • White A-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 23

11 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads Ap SiCr — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.
  • 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 9.1 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Pyxis.
  • 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.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 45.5 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-0.408
bv
0.028
constellation
Pyx
dist ly
2588.5397
luminosity
126.8236
mag
9.09
name
HD 72175
spect
Ap SiCr
var amplitude
0.11
var designation
AA
var max
9.03
var min
9.14

About HD 72175

HD 72175 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 2,588.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Pyx, shines at apparent magnitude 9.09 and has spectral type Ap SiCr.

Its spectrum reads Ap SiCr — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.

How to see it

Look for HD 72175 in the constellation Pyx. At apparent magnitude 9.09, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 72175 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 72175 is an uncommon variable star

HD 72175 scores 23 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), White A-type 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.