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Common star 18 EP

HD 15909

RA 38.2657° · Dec -16.0390° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
18 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Bright giant +12
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 18

4 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Bright giant · +12

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K1/K2II/III — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

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 8.7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, 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. ≈ 14.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 1.3 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
1.731
bv
1.201
constellation
Cet
dist ly
811.3333
luminosity
17.6848
mag
8.71
name
HD 15909
spect
K1/K2II/III

About HD 15909

HD 15909 is a common star. It lies about 811.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cet, shines at apparent magnitude 8.71 and has spectral type K1/K2II/III.

Its spectrum reads K1/K2II/III — 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 HD 15909 in the constellation Cet. At apparent magnitude 8.71, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 15909 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 15909 is a common star

HD 15909 scores 18 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, Orange K-type star and Bright giant — 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.