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Common star 16 EP

HD 238602

RA 250.8152° · Dec 59.4831° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
16 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 16

6 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Orange K-type star · +3

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K — 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 10.1 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Draco.
  • Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around June — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 39.5 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 3.5 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
0.857
bv
1.197
constellation
Dra
dist ly
2249.3518
luminosity
39.5549
mag
10.05
name
HD 238602
spect
K

About HD 238602

HD 238602 is a common star. It lies about 2,249.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Dra, shines at apparent magnitude 10.05 and has spectral type K.

Its spectrum reads K — 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 238602 in the constellation Dra. At apparent magnitude 10.05, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 238602 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 238602 is a common star

HD 238602 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, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Never sets (northern circumpolar) and Orange K-type 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.