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Common star 17 EP

HD 12539

RA 30.6388° · Dec -15.6138° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
17 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
Total score 17

5 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Giant star · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G5III — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is a giant. It has already exhausted its core hydrogen and swollen up enormously in response.

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 9.4 you'll want a small backyard telescope, 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. ≈ 13.8 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
2.475
bv
0.852
constellation
Cet
dist ly
787.8164
luminosity
8.9125
mag
9.39
name
HD 12539
spect
G5III

About HD 12539

HD 12539 is a common star. It lies about 787.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cet, shines at apparent magnitude 9.39 and has spectral type G5III.

Its spectrum reads G5III — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 12539 in the constellation Cet. At apparent magnitude 9.39, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 12539 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 12539 is a common star

HD 12539 scores 17 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, Sun-like G-type star and Giant 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.