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Rare star 37 EP

HD 12993

RA 32.2603° · Dec 57.9322° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
37 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Blazing O-type star +26
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 37

13 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Blazing O-type star · +26
  • Main-sequence star · +2

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads O6.5V — an O-type star — the hottest, rarest main class there is. Fewer than one star in a million is an O, and none of them lasts long.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.

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 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Perseus.
  • 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 42.8 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-0.364
bv
0.159
constellation
Per
dist ly
2434.0001
luminosity
121.7867
mag
9
name
HD 12993
spect
O6.5V

About HD 12993

HD 12993 is a rare star. It lies about 2,434 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Per, shines at apparent magnitude 9 and has spectral type O6.5V.

Its spectrum reads O6.5V — an O-type star — the hottest, rarest main class there is. Fewer than one star in a million is an O, and none of them lasts long.

How to see it

Look for HD 12993 in the constellation Per. At apparent magnitude 9, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 12993 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 12993 is a rare star

HD 12993 scores 37 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 13 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Blazing O-type star and Main-sequence 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.