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Epic variable star 55 EP

HR 5080

RA 202.4283° · Dec -23.2813° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
55 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Dramatic variable (over 2 magnitudes) +20
  • Fades out of naked-eye view +16
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 55

23 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Red dwarf · +6
  • Dramatic variable (over 2 magnitudes) · +20
  • Fades out of naked-eye view · +16
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M6/M7e — 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.

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 6.4 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Hydra.
  • 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 April — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

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

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 7.1 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.929
bv
1.317
constellation
Hya
dist ly
405.1627
luminosity
37.0169
mag
6.4
name
HR 5080
spect
M6/M7e
var amplitude
2.85
var designation
R
var max
5.192
var min
8.042

About HR 5080

HR 5080 is an epic variable star. It lies about 405.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Hya, shines at apparent magnitude 6.4 and has spectral type M6/M7e.

Its spectrum reads M6/M7e — 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 HR 5080 in the constellation Hya. At apparent magnitude 6.4, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HR 5080 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 HR 5080 is an epic variable star

HR 5080 scores 55 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 23 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Cool red M-type star, Red dwarf, Dramatic variable (over 2 magnitudes), Fades out of naked-eye view 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.