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Uncommon star 29 EP

21 Sgr

RA 276.3377° · Dec -20.5417° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
29 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Toward the galactic centre +8
  • White A-type star +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 29

5 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • Toward the galactic centre · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Main-sequence star · +2

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads A1/A2V — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.

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 4.8 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. ≈ 7.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 640.6 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
-0.688
bv
1.31
constellation
Sgr
dist ly
410.2592
luminosity
164.1345
mag
4.81
name
21 Sgr
spect
A1/A2V

About 21 Sgr

21 Sgr is an uncommon star. It lies about 410.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Sgr, shines at apparent magnitude 4.81 and has spectral type A1/A2V.

Its spectrum reads A1/A2V — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.

How to see it

Look for 21 Sgr in the constellation Sgr. At apparent magnitude 4.81, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 21 Sgr 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 21 Sgr is an uncommon star

21 Sgr scores 29 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, Toward the galactic centre, On the zodiac, White A-type star and Main-sequence 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.