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Trash star 14 EP

HD 8956

RA 22.1146° · Dec 7.9582° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
14 pts · Trash
Trash 15 pts → Common
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Yellow-white F-type star +3
Total score 14

1 more point to reach Common.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Yellow-white F-type star · +3
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads F8IV-V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the 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 8 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Pisces.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • 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. ≈ 6.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
2.823
bv
0.53
constellation
Psc
dist ly
360.3932
luminosity
6.4684
mag
8.04
name
HD 8956
spect
F8IV-V

Nearby objects

About HD 8956

HD 8956 is a trash star. It lies about 360.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Psc, shines at apparent magnitude 8.04 and has spectral type F8IV-V.

Its spectrum reads F8IV-V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 8956 in the constellation Psc. At apparent magnitude 8.04, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 8956 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 8956 is a trash star

HD 8956 scores 14 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, Yellow-white F-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.