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Uncommon star 25 EP

Onkaria

RA 258.8279° · Dec 4.9616° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
25 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Has a proper name +8
  • Deep red star +8
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) +6
  • Star +3
Total score 25

9 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Has a proper name · +8
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads m — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Inside our stellar backyard: every radio broadcast humanity has ever made has already swept past it.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 14.7 it is far too faint for the eye: this one belongs to cameras and long exposures, over in Ophiuchus.
  • 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 June — 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. ≈ 740.5 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 65.8 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
14.114
bv
1.74
constellation
Oph
dist ly
42.139
luminosity
0.0002
mag
14.67
name
Onkaria
named
yes
spect
m

About Onkaria

Onkaria is an uncommon star. It lies about 42.1 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Oph, shines at apparent magnitude 14.67 and has spectral type m.

Its spectrum reads m — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

How to see it

Look for Onkaria in the constellation Oph. At apparent magnitude 14.67, it takes a larger telescope or a long-exposure image to capture.

Like any astronomical target, Onkaria 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 Onkaria is an uncommon star

Onkaria scores 25 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Has a proper name, Deep red star and Intrinsically feeble (Mv > +12) — 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.