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Uncommon star 28 EP

HD 180494

RA 289.6225° · Dec -39.2292° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
28 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
Total score 28

6 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Red dwarf · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

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

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 9 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Corona Australis.
  • 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.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 20.5 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 1.8 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
1.266
bv
1.738
constellation
CrA
dist ly
1164.843
luminosity
27.1394
mag
9.03
name
HD 180494
spect
M:...

About HD 180494

HD 180494 is an uncommon star. It lies about 1,164.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation CrA, shines at apparent magnitude 9.03 and has spectral type M:....

Its spectrum reads M:... — 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 180494 in the constellation CrA. At apparent magnitude 9.03, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 180494 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 180494 is an uncommon star

HD 180494 scores 28 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Cool red M-type star, Deep red star and Red dwarf — 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.