About HD 120408
HD 120408 is an uncommon variable star. It sits in the constellation Vir, shines at apparent magnitude 8.72 and has spectral type G-K.
Its spectrum reads G-K — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Uncommon variable star 29 EP
HD 120408
RA 207.3213° · Dec -1.9291° · star
Score breakdown
· 5 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Strongly variable +10
- Sun-like G-type star +8
- Variable star +5
- On the zodiac +3
- A named variable star +3
Total score 29
5 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Variable star · +5
- On the zodiac · +3
- Sun-like G-type star · +8
- Strongly variable · +10
- A named variable star · +3
Trivia
Hard to believe
- True brightness. It pours out about 2.8 million times as much light as the Sun. It only looks ordinary because it is so far away.
What it actually is
- Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G-K — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
- 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 8.7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Virgo.
- Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around April — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out orange (B−V 1.2) — cooler than the Sun, and the kind of star that burns steadily for tens of billions of years.
By the numbers
- Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 4240 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.
Properties
- absmag
- -11.28
- bv
- 1.234
- constellation
- Vir
- luminosity
- 2831391.9958
- mag
- 8.72
- name
- HD 120408
- spect
- G-K
- var amplitude
- 1.06
- var designation
- CE
- var max
- 8.255
- var min
- 9.315
Nearby objects
How to see it
Look for HD 120408 in the constellation Vir. At apparent magnitude 8.72, it is an easy target for binoculars.
Like any astronomical target, HD 120408 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 120408 is an uncommon variable star
HD 120408 scores 29 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Variable star, On the zodiac, Sun-like G-type star, Strongly 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.