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Rare star 44 EP

HD 198140

RA 312.2368° · Dec -19.0192° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
44 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Carbon star (sooty red) +24
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 44

6 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Carbon star (sooty red) · +24
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads C — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.

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 10.6 you'll want a small backyard telescope, 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 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. ≈ 18 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 1.6 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
3.159
bv
3.3
constellation
Cap
dist ly
1022.4325
luminosity
4.7468
mag
10.64
name
HD 198140
spect
C

About HD 198140

HD 198140 is a rare star. It lies about 1,022.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cap, shines at apparent magnitude 10.64 and has spectral type C.

Its spectrum reads C — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.

How to see it

Look for HD 198140 in the constellation Cap. At apparent magnitude 10.64, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 198140 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 198140 is a rare star

HD 198140 scores 44 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), On the zodiac, Carbon star (sooty red) and Deep red 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.