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Common star 17 EP

HIP 11879

RA 38.3105° · Dec 62.5815° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
17 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 17

5 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Main-sequence star · +2

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G8V — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • 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 8.7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Cassiopeia.
  • Never sets. So far north that from Britain, Canada or northern Europe it never dips below the horizon — it is up every clear night of the year.
  • 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. ≈ 8.5 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
2.87
bv
1.156
constellation
Cas
dist ly
484.63
luminosity
6.1944
mag
8.73
name
HIP 11879
spect
G8V

About HIP 11879

HIP 11879 is a common star. It lies about 484.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cas, shines at apparent magnitude 8.73 and has spectral type G8V.

Its spectrum reads G8V — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HIP 11879 in the constellation Cas. At apparent magnitude 8.73, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HIP 11879 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 HIP 11879 is a common star

HIP 11879 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 4 science badges — Star, Never sets (northern circumpolar), Sun-like G-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.