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Uncommon star 25 EP

71 Aql

RA 309.5845° · Dec -1.1051° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
25 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
Total score 25

9 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Giant star · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G8III SB — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is a giant. It has already exhausted its core hydrogen and swollen up enormously in response.

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 4.3 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Aquila.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • 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. ≈ 5.9 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-0.763
bv
0.949
constellation
Aql
dist ly
337.2864
luminosity
175.8733
mag
4.31
name
71 Aql
spect
G8III SB

About 71 Aql

71 Aql is an uncommon star. It lies about 337.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aql, shines at apparent magnitude 4.31 and has spectral type G8III SB.

Its spectrum reads G8III SB — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for 71 Aql in the constellation Aql. At apparent magnitude 4.31, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 71 Aql 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 71 Aql is an uncommon star

71 Aql scores 25 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, Sun-like G-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.