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Common star 16 EP

HD 236637

RA 17.6107° · Dec 59.6004° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
16 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 16

6 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

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

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K2 — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

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 10 you'll want a small backyard telescope, 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 44.1 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 3.9 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
0.56
bv
1.115
constellation
Cas
dist ly
2508.8924
luminosity
51.9996
mag
9.99
name
HD 236637
spect
K2

About HD 236637

HD 236637 is a common star. It lies about 2,508.9 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cas, shines at apparent magnitude 9.99 and has spectral type K2.

Its spectrum reads K2 — 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 236637 in the constellation Cas. At apparent magnitude 9.99, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 236637 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 236637 is a common star

HD 236637 scores 16 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Never sets (northern circumpolar) and Orange K-type 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.