← Back to dex
Common star 15 EP

78 Aqr

RA 343.6422° · Dec -7.2046° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
15 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 15

7 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Giant star · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K3III — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.
  • 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 6.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, 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 September — 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. ≈ 11.8 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-0.371
bv
1.284
constellation
Aqr
dist ly
672.4867
luminosity
122.5745
mag
6.2
name
78 Aqr
spect
K3III

About 78 Aqr

78 Aqr is a common star. It lies about 672.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aqr, shines at apparent magnitude 6.2 and has spectral type K3III.

Its spectrum reads K3III — 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 78 Aqr in the constellation Aqr. At apparent magnitude 6.2, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, 78 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 78 Aqr is a common star

78 Aqr scores 15 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, 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.