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Epic variable star 59 EP

HR 5147

RA 205.4399° · Dec -33.5974° · star

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Score breakdown

· 8 badges
59 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Fades out of naked-eye view +16
  • Strongly variable +10
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Variable star +5
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • A named variable star +3
Total score 59

19 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Red dwarf · +6
  • 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 M3e — 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 6.6 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 24.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-1.546
bv
1.584
constellation
Cen
dist ly
1376.1856
luminosity
361.7429
mag
6.58
name
HR 5147
spect
M3e
var amplitude
1.49
var designation
T
var max
5.861
var min
7.351

About HR 5147

HR 5147 is an epic variable star. It lies about 1,376.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cen, shines at apparent magnitude 6.58 and has spectral type M3e.

Its spectrum reads M3e — 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 5147 in the constellation Cen. At apparent magnitude 6.58, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HR 5147 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 5147 is an epic variable star

HR 5147 scores 59 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 19 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 8 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Cool red M-type star, Deep red star, Red dwarf, 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.