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Common star 15 EP

HD 163859

RA 266.8307° · Dec 78.3913° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
15 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
Total score 15

7 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own 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 8.6 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Draco.
  • Never sets. So far north that from Britain, Canada or northern Europe it never dips below the horizon — it is up every clear night of the year.
  • 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. ≈ 3.1 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 271.8 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
4.914
bv
0.66
constellation
Dra
dist ly
174.0427
luminosity
0.9428
mag
8.55
name
HD 163859
spect
G

About HD 163859

HD 163859 is a common star. It lies about 174 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Dra, shines at apparent magnitude 8.55 and has spectral type G.

Its spectrum reads G — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 163859 in the constellation Dra. At apparent magnitude 8.55, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 163859 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 163859 is a common star

HD 163859 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 3 science badges — Star, Never sets (northern circumpolar) and Sun-like G-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.