RA 286.8941° · Dec -15.1611° · star
5 more points to reach Uncommon.
HD 178020 is a common star. It lies about 851.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Sgr, shines at apparent magnitude 9.84 and has spectral type F8/G0w....
Its spectrum reads F8/G0w... — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
Look for HD 178020 in the constellation Sgr. At apparent magnitude 9.84, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.
Like any astronomical target, HD 178020 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.
HD 178020 scores 17 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Toward the galactic centre, On the zodiac and Yellow-white F-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.