About HD 178078
HD 178078 is an uncommon star. It sits in the constellation Sgr, shines at apparent magnitude 9.09 and has spectral type G:+....
Its spectrum reads G:+... — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Uncommon star 22 EP
HD 178078
RA 287.1829° · Dec -33.7951° · star
Score breakdown
· 4 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Toward the galactic centre +8
- Sun-like G-type star +8
- Star +3
- On the zodiac +3
Total score 22
12 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Star · +3
- Toward the galactic centre · +8
- On the zodiac · +3
- Sun-like G-type star · +8
Trivia
Hard to believe
- True brightness. It pours out about 2 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 G:+... — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 9.1 you'll want a small backyard telescope, 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 July — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out yellow (B−V 0.6) — almost exactly the Sun's own shade — a stellar twin in colour, if not in size.
- Why no green stars. No star ever looks green: a surface hot enough to peak in green also floods out plenty of red and blue, and your eye blends the mixture back to white.
By the numbers
- Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 5910 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.
Properties
- absmag
- -10.91
- bv
- 0.614
- constellation
- Sgr
- luminosity
- 2013724.2499
- mag
- 9.09
- name
- HD 178078
- spect
- G:+...
Nearby objects
How to see it
Look for HD 178078 in the constellation Sgr. At apparent magnitude 9.09, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.
Like any astronomical target, HD 178078 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 178078 is an uncommon star
HD 178078 scores 22 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 12 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Toward the galactic centre, On the zodiac 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.