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Uncommon star 23 EP

HR 609

RA 30.9275° · Dec 18.2532° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
23 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 23

11 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Giant star · +6
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K4III — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.
  • 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 6.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Aries.
  • 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 15.6 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-0.937
bv
1.424
constellation
Ari
dist ly
888.7086
luminosity
206.4429
mag
6.24
name
HR 609
spect
K4III

About HR 609

HR 609 is an uncommon star. It lies about 888.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ari, shines at apparent magnitude 6.24 and has spectral type K4III.

Its spectrum reads K4III — 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 HR 609 in the constellation Ari. At apparent magnitude 6.24, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HR 609 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 HR 609 is an uncommon star

HR 609 scores 23 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, Orange K-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.