Uncommon variable star 27 EP

HD 124326

RA 213.5715° · Dec -47.8402° · star

Loading sky survey…

🌌 View in 3D star map

Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 6 badges

27 pts · Uncommon

Uncommon 34 pts → Rare

Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
Giant star +6
Variable star +5
Gently variable +4
Orange K-type star +3
A named variable star +3

Total score 27

7 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

Variable star · +5
Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
Orange K-type star · +3
Giant star · +6
Gently variable · +4
A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K1III/IV — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.
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 9 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.

Properties

absmag: 0.294
bv: 1.06
constellation: Cen
dist ly: 1772.5871
luminosity: 66.4355
mag: 8.97
name: HD 124326
spect: K1III/IV
var amplitude: 0.16
var designation: V998
var max: 8.907
var min: 9.067

Nearby objects

About HD 124326

HD 124326 is an uncommon variable star. It lies about 1,772.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cen, shines at apparent magnitude 8.97 and has spectral type K1III/IV.

Its spectrum reads K1III/IV — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

How to see it

Look for HD 124326 in the constellation Cen. At apparent magnitude 8.97, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 124326 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 124326 is an uncommon variable star

HD 124326 scores 27 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Orange K-type star, Giant 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.