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Common star 20 EP

HD 319738

RA 260.9347° · Dec -36.4864° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
20 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 20

2 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads R3 — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.

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 9.6 you'll want a small backyard telescope, 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 23.7 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 2.1 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
1.489
bv
1.645
constellation
Sco
dist ly
1347.7519
luminosity
22.1004
mag
9.57
name
HD 319738
spect
R3

About HD 319738

HD 319738 is a common star. It lies about 1,347.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Sco, shines at apparent magnitude 9.57 and has spectral type R3.

Its spectrum reads R3 — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.

How to see it

Look for HD 319738 in the constellation Sco. At apparent magnitude 9.57, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 319738 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 319738 is a common star

HD 319738 scores 20 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), On the zodiac 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.