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Uncommon star 33 EP

17 Aqr

RA 320.7344° · Dec -9.3193° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
33 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Deep red star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 33

1 more point to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Giant star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M0III — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.
  • 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 6 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Aquarius.
  • 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 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. ≈ 12.9 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-0.763
bv
1.516
constellation
Aqr
dist ly
731.2913
luminosity
175.8733
mag
5.99
name
17 Aqr
spect
M0III

About 17 Aqr

17 Aqr is an uncommon star. It lies about 731.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aqr, shines at apparent magnitude 5.99 and has spectral type M0III.

Its spectrum reads M0III — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

How to see it

Look for 17 Aqr in the constellation Aqr. At apparent magnitude 5.99, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 17 Aqr 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 17 Aqr is an uncommon star

17 Aqr scores 33 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, On the zodiac, Cool red M-type star, Giant star 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.