← Back to dex
Common star 15 EP

HD 193040

RA 304.7276° · Dec -23.8941° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
15 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 15

7 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Giant star · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K1/K2III — 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 7.8 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Capricornus.
  • 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. ≈ 11.4 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 1 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
1.258
bv
1.223
constellation
Cap
dist ly
648.4216
luminosity
27.3401
mag
7.75
name
HD 193040
spect
K1/K2III

About HD 193040

HD 193040 is a common star. It lies about 648.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cap, shines at apparent magnitude 7.75 and has spectral type K1/K2III.

Its spectrum reads K1/K2III — 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 193040 in the constellation Cap. At apparent magnitude 7.75, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 193040 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 193040 is a common star

HD 193040 scores 15 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, 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.