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Uncommon variable star 31 EP

HD 102276

RA 176.5414° · Dec -24.8735° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
31 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 31

3 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Giant star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M4III — 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.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Far away by human standards, yet still a local address inside the Milky Way's spiral arms.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 7.5 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Crater.
  • 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.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Properties

absmag
0.473
bv
1.438
constellation
Crt
dist ly
844.9639
luminosity
56.3378
mag
7.54
name
HD 102276
spect
M4III
var amplitude
0.14
var designation
WW
var max
7.489
var min
7.629

About HD 102276

HD 102276 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 845 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Crt, shines at apparent magnitude 7.54 and has spectral type M4III.

Its spectrum reads M4III — 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 102276 in the constellation Crt. At apparent magnitude 7.54, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 102276 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 102276 is an uncommon variable star

HD 102276 scores 31 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon 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, 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.