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Common star 23 EP

52Tau Cet

RA 26.0172° · Dec -15.9375° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
23 pts · Common
Common 24 pts → Uncommon
  • Nearby (<25 ly) +12
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Star +3
Total score 23

1 more point to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Nearby (<25 ly) · +12
  • Naked-eye visible · +8

Trivia

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. A multi-generation starship could one day attempt the crossing.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 209.2 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 18.6 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.
  • At 10% light speed. ≈ 119 years in a starship at a tenth of light speed.
  • Distance. 11.9 light-years from Earth.

Look-back time

  • Look-back time. The light you'd see left around the year 2014.

Saying hello

  • Say hello. A radio message and its reply would take 23.8 years round-trip.

Properties

absmag
5.678
bv
0.727
constellation
Cet
dist ly
11.9053
mag
3.49
name
52Tau Cet
spect
G8V

About 52Tau Cet

52Tau Cet is a common star. It lies about 11.9 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cet, shines at apparent magnitude 3.49 and has spectral type G8V.

52Tau Cet is a common star worth 23 points across 3 science badges. Explore its facts, badges and place on the sky map, then add it to your dex on Spacedle.

How to see it

Look for 52Tau Cet in the constellation Cet. At apparent magnitude 3.49, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 52Tau Cet 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 52Tau Cet is a common star

52Tau Cet scores 23 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, Nearby (<25 ly) and Naked-eye visible — 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.

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Sky imagery and survey data courtesy of Aladin Lite & CDS, Strasbourg. Object data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, JPL Small-Body Database, and the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue.