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Uncommon star 26 EP

51 Her

RA 252.9386° · Dec 24.6564° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
26 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Bright giant +12
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 26

8 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Bright giant · +12

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K2II-III — 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 a bright giant, well on its way to the largest stars there are.

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 5 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Hercules.
  • 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 12.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-1.623
bv
1.246
constellation
Her
dist ly
698.407
luminosity
388.3292
mag
5.03
name
51 Her
spect
K2II-III

About 51 Her

51 Her is an uncommon star. It lies about 698.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Her, shines at apparent magnitude 5.03 and has spectral type K2II-III.

Its spectrum reads K2II-III — 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 51 Her in the constellation Her. At apparent magnitude 5.03, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 51 Her 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 51 Her is an uncommon star

51 Her scores 26 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 8 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, Orange K-type star and Bright giant — 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.