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Epic variable star 51 EP

HD 106873

RA 184.4406° · Dec -63.6161° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
51 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Supergiant +18
  • Under the Southern Cross +8
  • Deep red star +8
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 51

27 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Under the Southern Cross · +8
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Supergiant · +18
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M0Ia/Iab — 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 luminous supergiant — among the largest and rarest stars in the galaxy.
  • 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 7.4 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Crux.
  • 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 deep orange-red (B−V 2.1) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

By the numbers

  • Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 3080 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.

Properties

absmag
-12.58
bv
2.091
constellation
Cru
luminosity
9375620.0693
mag
7.42
name
HD 106873
spect
M0Ia/Iab
var amplitude
0.27
var designation
AO
var max
7.33
var min
7.6

About HD 106873

HD 106873 is an epic variable star. It sits in the constellation Cru, shines at apparent magnitude 7.42 and has spectral type M0Ia/Iab.

Its spectrum reads M0Ia/Iab — 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 106873 in the constellation Cru. At apparent magnitude 7.42, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 106873 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 106873 is an epic variable star

HD 106873 scores 51 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 27 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Variable star, Under the Southern Cross, Cool red M-type star, Supergiant, 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.