← Back to dex
Uncommon star 25 EP

63 Cet

RA 32.8993° · Dec -1.8254° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
25 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
Total score 25

9 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

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

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G9III: — 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 5.9 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Cetus.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • 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. ≈ 6.8 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.561
bv
0.967
constellation
Cet
dist ly
388.2809
luminosity
51.9517
mag
5.94
name
63 Cet
spect
G9III:

About 63 Cet

63 Cet is an uncommon star. It lies about 388.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cet, shines at apparent magnitude 5.94 and has spectral type G9III:.

Its spectrum reads G9III: — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for 63 Cet in the constellation Cet. At apparent magnitude 5.94, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 63 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 63 Cet is an uncommon star

63 Cet scores 25 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, 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.