← Back to dex
Epic variable star 61 EP

HR 5134

RA 204.9993° · Dec -49.9500° · star

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

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 8 badges
61 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Fades out of naked-eye view +16
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Deep red star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 61

17 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Giant star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Strongly variable · +10
  • Fades out of naked-eye view · +16
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M8III — 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 5.7 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, 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 April — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

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

Properties

absmag
-0.246
bv
1.496
constellation
Cen
dist ly
513.6314
luminosity
109.2446
mag
5.74
name
HR 5134
spect
M8III
var amplitude
0.98
var designation
V744
var max
5.241
var min
6.221

About HR 5134

HR 5134 is an epic variable star. It lies about 513.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cen, shines at apparent magnitude 5.74 and has spectral type M8III.

Its spectrum reads M8III — 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 5134 in the constellation Cen. At apparent magnitude 5.74, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, HR 5134 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 5134 is an epic variable star

HR 5134 scores 61 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 17 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 8 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, Cool red M-type star, Giant star, Deep red star, Strongly variable, 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.