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Rare variable star 47 EP

HD 299399

RA 162.2494° · Dec -54.1818° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
47 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Dramatic variable (over 2 magnitudes) +20
  • Deep red star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 47

3 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Giant star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Dramatic variable (over 2 magnitudes) · +20
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

Hard to believe

  • True brightness. It pours out about 110.7 thousand 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 M5e-M7IIIe — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.
  • 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 12.2 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Vela.
  • 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 March — 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 1.5) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

By the numbers

  • Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 3790 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.

Properties

absmag
-7.78
bv
1.5
constellation
Vel
luminosity
112719.7456
mag
12.22
name
HD 299399
spect
M5e-M7IIIe
var amplitude
3.51
var designation
WX
var max
10.445
var min
13.955

About HD 299399

HD 299399 is a rare variable star. It sits in the constellation Vel, shines at apparent magnitude 12.22 and has spectral type M5e-M7IIIe.

Its spectrum reads M5e-M7IIIe — 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 HD 299399 in the constellation Vel. At apparent magnitude 12.22, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, HD 299399 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 299399 is a rare variable star

HD 299399 scores 47 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Cool red M-type star, Giant star, Deep red star, Dramatic variable (over 2 magnitudes) 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.