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Uncommon star 29 EP

HD 185690

RA 295.4244° · Dec -33.4661° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
29 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Toward the galactic centre +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 29

5 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Toward the galactic centre · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Giant star · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K0/K1III — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

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 8.8 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 18.9 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 1.7 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
1.264
bv
1.107
constellation
Sgr
dist ly
1072.8817
luminosity
27.1894
mag
8.85
name
HD 185690
spect
K0/K1III

About HD 185690

HD 185690 is an uncommon star. It lies about 1,072.9 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Sgr, shines at apparent magnitude 8.85 and has spectral type K0/K1III.

Its spectrum reads K0/K1III — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

How to see it

Look for HD 185690 in the constellation Sgr. At apparent magnitude 8.85, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 185690 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 185690 is an uncommon star

HD 185690 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, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Toward the galactic centre, On the zodiac, Orange K-type star and Giant 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.