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Rare star 47 EP

HD 150197

RA 250.4304° · Dec -47.5531° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
47 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Blazing O-type star +26
  • Supergiant +18
  • Star +3
Total score 47

3 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Blazing O-type star · +26
  • Supergiant · +18

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads O9Ib — an O-type star — the hottest, rarest main class there is. Fewer than one star in a million is an O, and none of them lasts long.
  • Where it is in life. It is a supergiant, hundreds of times wider than the Sun.

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 9.5 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Ara.
  • 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.

Could we get there?

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

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 12.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
2.865
bv
0.427
constellation
Ara
dist ly
692.4755
luminosity
6.223
mag
9.5
name
HD 150197
spect
O9Ib

About HD 150197

HD 150197 is a rare star. It lies about 692.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ara, shines at apparent magnitude 9.5 and has spectral type O9Ib.

Its spectrum reads O9Ib — an O-type star — the hottest, rarest main class there is. Fewer than one star in a million is an O, and none of them lasts long.

How to see it

Look for HD 150197 in the constellation Ara. At apparent magnitude 9.5, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 150197 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 150197 is a rare star

HD 150197 scores 47 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, Blazing O-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.