About HD 138459
HD 138459 is a common star. It sits in the constellation Lib, shines at apparent magnitude 9.16 and has spectral type G2V.
Its spectrum reads G2V — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Common star 16 EP
HD 138459
RA 233.1967° · Dec -17.9291° · star
Score breakdown
· 4 badgesCommon 22 pts → Uncommon
- Sun-like G-type star +8
- Star +3
- On the zodiac +3
- Main-sequence star +2
Total score 16
6 more points to reach Uncommon.
Badges
- Star · +3
- On the zodiac · +3
- Sun-like G-type star · +8
- Main-sequence star · +2
Trivia
Hard to believe
- True brightness. It pours out about 1.9 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 G2V — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
- Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 9.2 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Libra.
- 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 May — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out yellow (B−V 0.6) — almost exactly the Sun's own shade — a stellar twin in colour, if not in size.
- Why no green stars. No star ever looks green: a surface hot enough to peak in green also floods out plenty of red and blue, and your eye blends the mixture back to white.
Properties
- absmag
- -10.84
- bv
- 0.623
- constellation
- Lib
- luminosity
- 1887991.3491
- mag
- 9.16
- name
- HD 138459
- spect
- G2V
Nearby objects
How to see it
Look for HD 138459 in the constellation Lib. At apparent magnitude 9.16, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.
Like any astronomical target, HD 138459 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 138459 is a common star
HD 138459 scores 16 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, Sun-like G-type star and Main-sequence 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.