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Rare variable star 43 EP

HD 73766

RA 129.9323° · Dec -9.5869° · 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

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M5IIvar — 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 bright giant, well on its way to the largest stars there are.
  • 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 7.8 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Hydra.
  • 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
0.735
bv
1.401
constellation
Hya
dist ly
836.2976
luminosity
44.2588
mag
7.78
name
HD 73766
spect
M5IIvar
var amplitude
0.53
var designation
RV
var max
7.503
var min
8.033

About HD 73766

HD 73766 is a rare variable star. It lies about 836.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Hya, shines at apparent magnitude 7.78 and has spectral type M5IIvar.

Its spectrum reads M5IIvar — 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 73766 in the constellation Hya. At apparent magnitude 7.78, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 73766 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 73766 is a rare variable star

HD 73766 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.