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Common star 20 EP

HD 5459

RA 14.3315° · Dec 61.4219° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
20 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
Total score 20

2 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G8IV — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • 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 6.4 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Cassiopeia.
  • Never sets. So far north that from Britain, Canada or northern Europe it never dips below the horizon — it is up every clear night of the year.
  • 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. ≈ 11.4 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-0.052
bv
0.94
constellation
Cas
dist ly
648.4216
luminosity
91.3692
mag
6.44
name
HD 5459
spect
G8IV

About HD 5459

HD 5459 is a common star. It lies about 648.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cas, shines at apparent magnitude 6.44 and has spectral type G8IV.

Its spectrum reads G8IV — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 5459 in the constellation Cas. At apparent magnitude 6.44, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 5459 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 5459 is a common star

HD 5459 scores 20 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Sun-like G-type star and Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) — 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.