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Common star 16 EP

HD 139414

RA 235.0070° · Dec -46.9164° · star

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Score breakdown

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

6 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

Hard to believe

  • True brightness. It pours out about 3 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 K4V: — 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 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 8.7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Lupus.
  • 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 deep orange-red (B−V 1.6) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

By the numbers

  • Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 3620 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.

Properties

absmag
-11.35
bv
1.62
constellation
Lup
luminosity
3019951.7204
mag
8.65
name
HD 139414
spect
K4V:

Nearby objects

About HD 139414

HD 139414 is a common star. It sits in the constellation Lup, shines at apparent magnitude 8.65 and has spectral type K4V:.

Its spectrum reads K4V: — 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 139414 in the constellation Lup. At apparent magnitude 8.65, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 139414 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 139414 is a common star

HD 139414 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, Orange K-type star, Main-sequence star and Deep red 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.