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Uncommon star 30 EP

57 Cet

RA 29.9425° · Dec -20.8245° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
30 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Deep red star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
Total score 30

4 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Giant star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M0/M1III — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

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 5.4 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Cetus.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south 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. ≈ 10.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 919.3 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
-0.852
bv
1.64
constellation
Cet
dist ly
588.7292
luminosity
190.8974
mag
5.43
name
57 Cet
spect
M0/M1III

About 57 Cet

57 Cet is an uncommon star. It lies about 588.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cet, shines at apparent magnitude 5.43 and has spectral type M0/M1III.

Its spectrum reads M0/M1III — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

How to see it

Look for 57 Cet in the constellation Cet. At apparent magnitude 5.43, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 57 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 57 Cet is an uncommon star

57 Cet scores 30 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, Cool red M-type star, Giant 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.