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Uncommon variable star 25 EP

HR 3568

RA 133.7252° · Dec -58.2397° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
25 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Hot blue B-type star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Blue-white star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 25

9 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Hot blue B-type star · +6
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Blue-white star · +5
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads B5V — a blue-white B-type star, with a surface tens of thousands of degrees hot and a life measured in tens of millions of years.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.
  • 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 6.4 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Carina.
  • 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 February — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

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

Properties

absmag
-0.336
bv
-0.086
constellation
Car
dist ly
712.131
luminosity
118.6861
mag
6.36
name
HR 3568
spect
B5V
var amplitude
0.06
var designation
V473
var max
6.325
var min
6.385

About HR 3568

HR 3568 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 712.1 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Car, shines at apparent magnitude 6.36 and has spectral type B5V.

Its spectrum reads B5V — a blue-white B-type star, with a surface tens of thousands of degrees hot and a life measured in tens of millions of years.

How to see it

Look for HR 3568 in the constellation Car. At apparent magnitude 6.36, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HR 3568 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 HR 3568 is an uncommon variable star

HR 3568 scores 25 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Hot blue B-type star, Main-sequence star, Blue-white 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.