About HIP 74637
HIP 74637 is an uncommon star. It sits in the constellation Aps, shines at apparent magnitude 10.84 and has spectral type G2Ia:.
Its spectrum reads G2Ia: — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Uncommon star 29 EP
HIP 74637
RA 228.7520° · Dec -74.9022° · star
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Supergiant +18
- Sun-like G-type star +8
- Star +3
Total score 29
5 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Star · +3
- Sun-like G-type star · +8
- Supergiant · +18
Trivia
Hard to believe
- True brightness. It pours out about 394.5 thousand 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 G2Ia: — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
- Where it is in life. It is a luminous supergiant — among the largest and rarest stars in the galaxy.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 10.8 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Apus.
- Southern sky only. So far south it never rises for most of the northern hemisphere. To see it you'd have to travel to Chile, South Africa or Australia.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around May — 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) — 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 4730 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.
Properties
- absmag
- -9.16
- bv
- 1.007
- constellation
- Aps
- luminosity
- 401790.8108
- mag
- 10.84
- name
- HIP 74637
- spect
- G2Ia:
How to see it
Look for HIP 74637 in the constellation Aps. At apparent magnitude 10.84, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.
Like any astronomical target, HIP 74637 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 HIP 74637 is an uncommon star
HIP 74637 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 3 science badges — Star, Sun-like G-type star and Supergiant — 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.