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Uncommon star 29 EP

HD 221879

RA 353.9893° · Dec -16.2894° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
29 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Bright giant +12
  • Deep red star +8
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 29

5 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Bright giant · +12
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

Hard to believe

  • True brightness. It pours out about 3.9 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 K3II — 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 bright giant, well on its way to the largest stars there are.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 8.3 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.

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 3680 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.

Properties

absmag
-11.66
bv
1.579
constellation
Aqr
luminosity
4017908.1085
mag
8.34
name
HD 221879
spect
K3II

About HD 221879

HD 221879 is an uncommon star. It sits in the constellation Aqr, shines at apparent magnitude 8.34 and has spectral type K3II.

Its spectrum reads K3II — 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 HD 221879 in the constellation Aqr. At apparent magnitude 8.34, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 221879 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 221879 is an uncommon star

HD 221879 scores 29 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, Orange K-type star, Bright giant 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.