About HD 92490
HD 92490 is a rare variable star. It sits in the constellation Car, shines at apparent magnitude 9.06 and has spectral type G2/G3Ib/II.
Its spectrum reads G2/G3Ib/II — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Rare variable star 38 EP
HD 92490
RA 159.8347° · Dec -61.1524° · star
Score breakdown
· 5 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Supergiant +18
- Sun-like G-type star +8
- Variable star +5
- Gently variable +4
- A named variable star +3
Total score 38
12 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Variable star · +5
- Sun-like G-type star · +8
- Supergiant · +18
- Gently variable · +4
- A named variable star · +3
Trivia
Hard to believe
- True brightness. It pours out about 2 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 G2/G3Ib/II — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
- 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 9.1 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Carina.
- Southern sky only. So far south it never rises for most of the northern hemisphere. To see it you'd have to travel to Chile, South Africa or Australia.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around March — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out orange (B−V 1.1) — cooler than the Sun, and the kind of star that burns steadily for tens of billions of years.
By the numbers
- Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 4560 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.
Properties
- absmag
- -10.94
- bv
- 1.081
- constellation
- Car
- luminosity
- 2070141.3488
- mag
- 9.06
- name
- HD 92490
- spect
- G2/G3Ib/II
- var amplitude
- 0.34
- var designation
- HW
- var max
- 8.952
- var min
- 9.292
Nearby objects
How to see it
Look for HD 92490 in the constellation Car. At apparent magnitude 9.06, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.
Like any astronomical target, HD 92490 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 92490 is a rare variable star
HD 92490 scores 38 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 12 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, Sun-like G-type star, Supergiant, 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.