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Uncommon star 26 EP

23The Cap

RA 316.4868° · Dec -17.2329° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
26 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • White A-type star +5
  • Blue-white star +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 26

8 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Blue-white star · +5

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads A1V — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.

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 4.1 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 2.9 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.597
bv
-0.01
constellation
Cap
dist ly
162.186
luminosity
50.2574
mag
4.08
name
23The Cap
spect
A1V

About 23The Cap

23The Cap is an uncommon star. It lies about 162.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cap, shines at apparent magnitude 4.08 and has spectral type A1V.

Its spectrum reads A1V — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.

How to see it

Look for 23The Cap in the constellation Cap. At apparent magnitude 4.08, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 23The Cap 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 23The Cap is an uncommon star

23The Cap scores 26 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 8 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, On the zodiac, White A-type star, Main-sequence star and Blue-white 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.