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Epic variable star 50 EP

HD 73502

RA 129.2554° · Dec -44.1147° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
50 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Supergiant +18
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Variable star +5
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 50

28 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Supergiant · +18
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G1Ib — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is a supergiant, hundreds of times wider than the Sun.
  • 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 7.1 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Vela.
  • 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.

Properties

absmag
-1.556
bv
0.77
constellation
Vel
dist ly
1772.5871
luminosity
365.0901
mag
7.12
name
HD 73502
spect
G1Ib
var amplitude
1.2
var designation
RZ
var max
6.422
var min
7.622

About HD 73502

HD 73502 is an epic variable star. It lies about 1,772.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Vel, shines at apparent magnitude 7.12 and has spectral type G1Ib.

Its spectrum reads G1Ib — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 73502 in the constellation Vel. At apparent magnitude 7.12, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 73502 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 73502 is an epic variable star

HD 73502 scores 50 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 28 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Sun-like G-type star, Supergiant, 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.