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Uncommon star 27 EP

HD 6238

RA 16.0649° · Dec 57.1167° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
27 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Bright giant +12
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
Total score 27

7 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Bright giant · +12

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G8II-III — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is a bright giant, well on its way to the largest stars there are.

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 7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Cassiopeia.
  • Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north you are.
  • 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. ≈ 14.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.077
bv
1.017
constellation
Cas
dist ly
805.3235
luminosity
81.1335
mag
7.04
name
HD 6238
spect
G8II-III

About HD 6238

HD 6238 is an uncommon star. It lies about 805.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cas, shines at apparent magnitude 7.04 and has spectral type G8II-III.

Its spectrum reads G8II-III — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 6238 in the constellation Cas. At apparent magnitude 7.04, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 6238 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 6238 is an uncommon star

HD 6238 scores 27 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 7 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 Bright giant — 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.