← Back to dex
Trash star 13 EP

HD 4946

RA 11.9245° · Dec -82.5079° · star

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

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 3 badges
13 pts · Trash
Trash 15 pts → Common
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 13

2 more points to reach Common.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Main-sequence star · +2

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G3V — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.

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 9.2 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Octans.
  • 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 October — 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. ≈ 4.4 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
4.745
bv
0.666
constellation
Oct
dist ly
252.6382
luminosity
1.1015
mag
9.19
name
HD 4946
spect
G3V

About HD 4946

HD 4946 is a trash star. It lies about 252.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Oct, shines at apparent magnitude 9.19 and has spectral type G3V.

Its spectrum reads G3V — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 4946 in the constellation Oct. At apparent magnitude 9.19, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 4946 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 4946 is a trash star

HD 4946 scores 13 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, Sun-like G-type star and Main-sequence 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.