← Back to dex
Common star 20 EP

HD 220122

RA 350.3072° · Dec -12.8299° · star

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

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
20 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 20

2 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Giant star · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G8III/IV — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • 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 8.4 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Aquarius.
  • 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 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. ≈ 15.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
1.256
bv
0.996
constellation
Aqr
dist ly
867.436
luminosity
27.3905
mag
8.38
name
HD 220122
spect
G8III/IV

About HD 220122

HD 220122 is a common star. It lies about 867.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aqr, shines at apparent magnitude 8.38 and has spectral type G8III/IV.

Its spectrum reads G8III/IV — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 220122 in the constellation Aqr. At apparent magnitude 8.38, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 220122 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 HD 220122 is a common star

HD 220122 scores 20 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, Sun-like G-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.