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Rare star 39 EP

HD 165774

RA 272.3216° · Dec -36.9660° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
39 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Bright giant +12
  • Toward the galactic centre +8
  • Deep red star +8
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 39

11 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Toward the galactic centre · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Bright giant · +12
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

Hard to believe

  • True brightness. It pours out about 4.6 million times as much light as the Sun. It only looks ordinary because it is so far away.

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M2II/III — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.
  • Where it is in life. It is a bright giant, well on its way to the largest stars there are.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 8.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Sagittarius.
  • 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.

Its true colour

  • Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out deep orange-red (B−V 1.7) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

By the numbers

  • Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 3480 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.

Properties

absmag
-11.83
bv
1.725
constellation
Sgr
luminosity
4698941.0861
mag
8.17
name
HD 165774
spect
M2II/III

About HD 165774

HD 165774 is a rare star. It sits in the constellation Sgr, shines at apparent magnitude 8.17 and has spectral type M2II/III.

Its spectrum reads M2II/III — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

How to see it

Look for HD 165774 in the constellation Sgr. At apparent magnitude 8.17, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 165774 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 165774 is a rare star

HD 165774 scores 39 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Star, Toward the galactic centre, On the zodiac, Cool red M-type star, Bright giant 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.