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Uncommon star 26 EP

HD 16851

RA 40.2158° · Dec -41.2999° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
26 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Bright giant +12
  • Deep red star +8
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 26

8 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Bright giant · +12
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K3/K4II/III — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 7.7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Eridanus.
  • 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.

Its true colour

  • Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out deep orange-red (B−V 1.6) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

By the numbers

  • Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 3590 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.

What's in a name

  • Its catalogue. The HD number is from the Henry Draper Catalogue, in which Annie Jump Cannon personally classified the spectra of nearly 400,000 stars — still the largest such feat by one person.

Properties

absmag
-12.3
bv
1.646
constellation
Eri
luminosity
7244359.6007
mag
7.7
name
HD 16851
spect
K3/K4II/III

About HD 16851

HD 16851 is an uncommon star. It sits in the constellation Eri, shines at apparent magnitude 7.7 and has spectral type K3/K4II/III.

Its spectrum reads K3/K4II/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 16851 in the constellation Eri. At apparent magnitude 7.7, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 16851 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 16851 is an uncommon star

HD 16851 scores 26 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 8 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Orange K-type star, Bright giant 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.