About HD 97485
HD 97485 is an uncommon variable star. It sits in the constellation Car, shines at apparent magnitude 8.11 and has spectral type G1V.
Its spectrum reads G1V — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Uncommon variable star 22 EP
HD 97485
RA 168.0422° · Dec -61.7549° · star
Score breakdown
· 5 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Sun-like G-type star +8
- Variable star +5
- Gently variable +4
- A named variable star +3
- Main-sequence star +2
Total score 22
12 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Variable star · +5
- Sun-like G-type star · +8
- Main-sequence star · +2
- Gently variable · +4
- A named variable star · +3
Trivia
Hard to believe
- True brightness. It pours out about 4.9 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 G1V — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
- 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.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 8.1 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, 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 0.9) — cooler than the Sun, and the kind of star that burns steadily for tens of billions of years.
Properties
- absmag
- -11.89
- bv
- 0.942
- constellation
- Car
- luminosity
- 4965923.2145
- mag
- 8.11
- name
- HD 97485
- spect
- G1V
- var amplitude
- 0.35
- var designation
- IT
- var max
- 7.954
- var min
- 8.304
Nearby objects
How to see it
Look for HD 97485 in the constellation Car. At apparent magnitude 8.11, it is an easy target for binoculars.
Like any astronomical target, HD 97485 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 97485 is an uncommon variable star
HD 97485 scores 22 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon 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, Main-sequence 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.