About HD 220838
HD 220838 is a common star. It sits in the constellation Scl, shines at apparent magnitude 9.38 and has spectral type G6/G8III:w.
Its spectrum reads G6/G8III:w — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Common star 17 EP
HD 220838
RA 351.8187° · Dec -26.9828° · star
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesCommon 22 pts → Uncommon
- Sun-like G-type star +8
- Giant star +6
- Star +3
Total score 17
5 more points to reach Uncommon.
Badges
- Star · +3
- Sun-like G-type star · +8
- Giant star · +6
Trivia
Hard to believe
- True brightness. It pours out about 1.5 million times as much light as the Sun. It only looks ordinary because it is so far away.
What it actually is
- Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G6/G8III:w — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 9.4 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Sculptor.
- 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.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out orange (B−V 1.2) — cooler than the Sun, and the kind of star that burns steadily for tens of billions of years.
By the numbers
- Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 4390 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.
What's in a name
- Its catalogue. The HD number is from the Henry Draper Catalogue, in which Annie Jump Cannon personally classified the spectra of nearly 400,000 stars — still the largest such feat by one person.
Properties
- absmag
- -10.62
- bv
- 1.161
- constellation
- Scl
- luminosity
- 1541700.4529
- mag
- 9.38
- name
- HD 220838
- spect
- G6/G8III:w
How to see it
Look for HD 220838 in the constellation Scl. At apparent magnitude 9.38, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.
Like any astronomical target, HD 220838 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 220838 is a common star
HD 220838 scores 17 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, 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.