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Common star 18 EP

HD 196900

RA 310.6145° · Dec -52.4852° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
18 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 18

4 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • 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 9.2 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Indus.
  • 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 August — 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. ≈ 28.1 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 2.5 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
0.758
bv
1.108
constellation
Ind
dist ly
1598.804
luminosity
43.3311
mag
9.21
name
HD 196900
spect
K1/K2III

About HD 196900

HD 196900 is a common star. It lies about 1,598.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ind, shines at apparent magnitude 9.21 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 196900 in the constellation Ind. At apparent magnitude 9.21, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 196900 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 196900 is a common star

HD 196900 scores 18 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), 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.