Rare variable star 40 EP

HIP 48405

RA 148.0349° · Dec 26.9063° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges

40 pts · Rare

Rare 50 pts → Epic

Strongly variable +10
Deep red star +8
Giant star +6
Variable star +5
Cool red M-type star +5
On the zodiac +3
A named variable star +3

Total score 40

10 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

Variable star · +5
On the zodiac · +3
Cool red M-type star · +5
Giant star · +6
Deep red star · +8
Strongly variable · +10
A named variable star · +3

Trivia

Hard to believe

True brightness. It pours out about 2.5 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 M3III-IVvar — 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 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 8.8 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Leo.
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 1.7) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

Properties

absmag: -11.18
bv: 1.671
constellation: Leo
luminosity: 2582260.1906
mag: 8.82
name: HIP 48405
spect: M3III-IVvar
var amplitude: 0.61
var designation: Z
var max: 8.655
var min: 9.265

Nearby objects

About HIP 48405

HIP 48405 is a rare variable star. It sits in the constellation Leo, shines at apparent magnitude 8.82 and has spectral type M3III-IVvar.

Its spectrum reads M3III-IVvar — 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 HIP 48405 in the constellation Leo. At apparent magnitude 8.82, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 48405 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 48405 is a rare variable star

HIP 48405 scores 40 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 10 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, On the zodiac, Cool red M-type star, Giant star, 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.