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Common star 16 EP

Karaka

RA 233.9169° · Dec -80.2046° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
16 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Has a proper name +8
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 16

6 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Has a proper name · +8
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Main-sequence star · +2

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K0/K1V — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

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 8.7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, 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.

Could we get there?

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

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 2.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 199.8 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
5.742
bv
0.891
constellation
Aps
dist ly
127.9546
luminosity
0.4397
mag
8.71
name
Karaka
named
yes
spect
K0/K1V

About Karaka

Karaka is a common star. It lies about 128 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aps, shines at apparent magnitude 8.71 and has spectral type K0/K1V.

Its spectrum reads K0/K1V — 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 Karaka in the constellation Aps. At apparent magnitude 8.71, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, Karaka 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 Karaka is a common star

Karaka 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, Has a proper name, Orange K-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.