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Uncommon star 25 EP

HD 2166

RA 6.2987° · Dec -64.8385° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
25 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 25

9 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K5IV/V — 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 subgiant, caught in the act of leaving the main sequence as the hydrogen in its core runs out.

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 9.3 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Tucana.
  • Southern sky only. So far south it never rises for most of the northern hemisphere. To see it you'd have to travel to Chile, South Africa or Australia.
  • 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 26.9 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.972
bv
1.545
constellation
Tuc
dist ly
1531.2489
luminosity
35.5795
mag
9.33
name
HD 2166
spect
K5IV/V

About HD 2166

HD 2166 is an uncommon star. It lies about 1,531.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Tuc, shines at apparent magnitude 9.33 and has spectral type K5IV/V.

Its spectrum reads K5IV/V — 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 2166 in the constellation Tuc. At apparent magnitude 9.33, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 2166 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 2166 is an uncommon star

HD 2166 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 5 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Orange K-type star, Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) 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.