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Rare star 49 EP

HR 6842

RA 274.5133° · Dec -27.0426° · star

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Score breakdown

· 8 badges
49 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) +10
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Toward the galactic centre +8
  • Deep red star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 49

1 more point to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • Toward the galactic centre · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Giant star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) · +10

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K3III — 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 4.7 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, 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.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 13.4 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-2.183
bv
1.629
constellation
Sgr
dist ly
762.0469
luminosity
650.4292
mag
4.66
name
HR 6842
spect
K3III

About HR 6842

HR 6842 is a rare star. It lies about 762 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Sgr, shines at apparent magnitude 4.66 and has spectral type K3III.

Its spectrum reads K3III — 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 HR 6842 in the constellation Sgr. At apparent magnitude 4.66, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, HR 6842 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 HR 6842 is a rare star

HR 6842 scores 49 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 8 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, Toward the galactic centre, On the zodiac, Orange K-type star, Giant star, Deep red star and Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) — 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.