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Uncommon star 22 EP

HD 184987

RA 294.6256° · Dec -35.8768° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
22 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Toward the galactic centre +8
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Yellow-white F-type star +3
Total score 22

12 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Toward the galactic centre · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Yellow-white F-type star · +3
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads F0IV — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is a subgiant, caught in the act of leaving the main sequence as the hydrogen in its core runs out.

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 9.2 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.

Could we get there?

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

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 11.7 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
2.642
bv
0.574
constellation
Sgr
dist ly
668.3524
luminosity
7.6419
mag
9.2
name
HD 184987
spect
F0IV

About HD 184987

HD 184987 is an uncommon star. It lies about 668.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Sgr, shines at apparent magnitude 9.2 and has spectral type F0IV.

Its spectrum reads F0IV — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 184987 in the constellation Sgr. At apparent magnitude 9.2, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 184987 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 184987 is an uncommon star

HD 184987 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 5 science badges — Star, Toward the galactic centre, On the zodiac, Yellow-white F-type star and Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) — 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.