← Back to dex
Common variable star 20 EP

HIP 57737

RA 177.5973° · Dec -35.7630° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
20 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Deep red star +8
  • Variable star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 20

2 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

Hard to believe

  • True brightness. It pours out about 1 million times as much light as the Sun. It only looks ordinary because it is so far away.

What it actually is

  • 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 9.8 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Centaurus.
  • 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 1.7) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

By the numbers

  • Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 3490 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.

What's in a name

  • Its catalogue. The HIP number comes from Hipparcos, the ESA satellite that between 1989 and 1993 pinned down 118,000 stars precisely enough to triangulate their distances.

Properties

absmag
-10.22
bv
1.721
constellation
Cen
luminosity
1066596.1212
mag
9.78
name
HIP 57737
var amplitude
0.44
var designation
V921
var max
9.516
var min
9.956

About HIP 57737

HIP 57737 is a common variable star. It sits in the constellation Cen and shines at apparent magnitude 9.78.

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.

How to see it

Look for HIP 57737 in the constellation Cen. At apparent magnitude 9.78, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 57737 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 HIP 57737 is a common variable star

HIP 57737 scores 20 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Variable 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.