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Uncommon star 26 EP

HIP 4956

RA 15.8900° · Dec 61.2088° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
26 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 26

8 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K5V — 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 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 you'll want a small backyard telescope, 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 39.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-0.168
bv
1.96
constellation
Cas
dist ly
2233.9452
luminosity
101.6717
mag
9.01
name
HIP 4956
spect
K5V

About HIP 4956

HIP 4956 is an uncommon star. It lies about 2,233.9 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cas, shines at apparent magnitude 9.01 and has spectral type K5V.

Its spectrum reads K5V — 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 HIP 4956 in the constellation Cas. At apparent magnitude 9.01, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 4956 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 HIP 4956 is an uncommon star

HIP 4956 scores 26 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 8 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Never sets (northern circumpolar), Orange K-type star, Main-sequence star 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.