← Back to dex
Common star 15 EP

HD 153691

RA 255.5984° · Dec -33.5162° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
15 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 15

7 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Giant star · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K2III/IV — 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 giant. It has already exhausted its core hydrogen and swollen up enormously in response.

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 8.4 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Scorpius.
  • 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 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. ≈ 12.5 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
1.754
bv
1.392
constellation
Sco
dist ly
712.131
luminosity
17.3141
mag
8.45
name
HD 153691
spect
K2III/IV

About HD 153691

HD 153691 is a common star. It lies about 712.1 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Sco, shines at apparent magnitude 8.45 and has spectral type K2III/IV.

Its spectrum reads K2III/IV — 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 153691 in the constellation Sco. At apparent magnitude 8.45, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 153691 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 153691 is a common star

HD 153691 scores 15 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, Orange K-type star and Giant 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.