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Common variable star 20 EP

HD 126516

RA 216.5129° · Dec -0.6917° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
20 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Variable star +5
  • Gently variable +4
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Yellow-white F-type star +3
  • A named variable star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 20

2 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Yellow-white F-type star · +3
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Gently variable · +4
  • A named variable star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads F3V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.
  • 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 8.3 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.

Could we get there?

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

Properties

absmag
3.095
bv
0.456
constellation
Vir
dist ly
356.8447
luminosity
5.035
mag
8.29
name
HD 126516
spect
F3V
var amplitude
0.06
var designation
V349
var max
8.27
var min
8.33

About HD 126516

HD 126516 is a common variable star. It lies about 356.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Vir, shines at apparent magnitude 8.29 and has spectral type F3V.

Its spectrum reads F3V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 126516 in the constellation Vir. At apparent magnitude 8.29, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 126516 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 126516 is a common variable star

HD 126516 scores 20 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Variable star, On the zodiac, Yellow-white F-type star, Main-sequence 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.