RA 154.5316° · Dec -28.9920° · star
18 more points to reach Anomaly.
HR 4049 is an epic variable star. It lies about 2,651.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ant, shines at apparent magnitude 5.52 and has spectral type B9.5Ib/II.
Its spectrum reads B9.5Ib/II — 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.
Look for HR 4049 in the constellation Ant. At apparent magnitude 5.52, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.
Like any astronomical target, HR 4049 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.
HR 4049 scores 60 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 18 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 8 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Naked-eye visible, Hot blue B-type star, Supergiant, Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2), 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.