Uncommon variable star 33 EP

HIP 43205

RA 132.0261° · Dec 46.6918° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges

33 pts · Uncommon

Uncommon 34 pts → Rare

Deep red star +8
Giant star +6
Variable star +5
Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
Gently variable +4
Orange K-type star +3
A named variable star +3

Total score 33

1 more point to reach Rare.

Badges

Variable star · +5
Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
Orange K-type star · +3
Giant star · +6
Deep red star · +8
Gently variable · +4
A named variable star · +3

Trivia

Hard to believe

True brightness. It pours out about 4.6 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 K5III — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.
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.

Find it in the sky

How to spot it. At magnitude 8.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Ursa Major.
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 February — 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 1.6) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

Properties

absmag: -11.83
bv: 1.648
constellation: UMa
luminosity: 4698941.0861
mag: 8.17
name: HIP 43205
spect: K5III
var amplitude: 0.1
var designation: FQ
var max: 8.106
var min: 8.206

Nearby objects

About HIP 43205

HIP 43205 is an uncommon variable star. It sits in the constellation UMa, shines at apparent magnitude 8.17 and has spectral type K5III.

Its spectrum reads K5III — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

How to see it

Look for HIP 43205 in the constellation UMa. At apparent magnitude 8.17, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 43205 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 HIP 43205 is an uncommon variable star

HIP 43205 scores 33 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Orange K-type star, Giant star, Deep red 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.