About HR 8374
HR 8374 is a rare star. It sits in the constellation Cep, shines at apparent magnitude 6.17 and has spectral type G8Ib....
Its spectrum reads G8Ib... — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Rare star 41 EP
HR 8374
RA 328.8358° · Dec 61.5418° · star
Score breakdown
· 5 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Supergiant +18
- Sun-like G-type star +8
- Deep red star +8
- Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
- Star +3
Total score 41
9 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Star · +3
- Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
- Sun-like G-type star · +8
- Supergiant · +18
- Deep red star · +8
Trivia
What it actually is
- Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G8Ib... — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
- Where it is in life. It is a supergiant, hundreds of times wider than the Sun.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 6.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Cepheus.
- Never sets. So far north that from Britain, Canada or northern Europe it never dips below the horizon — it is up every clear night of the year.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around August — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out deep orange-red (B−V 1.6) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.
By the numbers
- Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 3650 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.
What's in a name
- Its catalogue. The HR number is from the Bright Star Catalogue — roughly 9,100 stars, essentially everything the unaided eye can see.
Properties
- absmag
- -13.83
- bv
- 1.599
- constellation
- Cep
- luminosity
- 29648313.8952
- mag
- 6.17
- name
- HR 8374
- spect
- G8Ib...
Nearby objects
How to see it
Look for HR 8374 in the constellation Cep. At apparent magnitude 6.17, it is an easy target for binoculars.
Like any astronomical target, HR 8374 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 HR 8374 is a rare star
HR 8374 scores 41 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Sun-like G-type star, Supergiant 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.