← Back to dex
Trash star 13 EP

HR 8738

RA 344.6776° · Dec 7.3401° · star

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

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
13 pts · Trash
Trash 15 pts → Common
  • White A-type star +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 13

2 more points to reach Common.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Main-sequence star · +2

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 6.3 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Pisces.
  • 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. ≈ 5.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
1.577
bv
0.052
constellation
Psc
dist ly
293.8343
luminosity
20.3798
mag
6.35
name
HR 8738
spect
A1V

About HR 8738

HR 8738 is a trash star. It lies about 293.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Psc, shines at apparent magnitude 6.35 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 HR 8738 in the constellation Psc. At apparent magnitude 6.35, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HR 8738 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 8738 is a trash star

HR 8738 scores 13 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, White A-type star and Main-sequence 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.