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Epic star 57 EP

HD 18391

RA 44.9530° · Dec 57.6632° · star

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Score breakdown

· 7 badges
57 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Supergiant +18
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) +10
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
  • Star +3
Total score 57

21 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Supergiant · +18
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) · +10

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G0Ia — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is a luminous supergiant — among the largest and rarest stars in the galaxy.

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 6.9 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Cassiopeia.
  • 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 November — 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. ≈ 37 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-2.188
bv
1.916
constellation
Cas
dist ly
2104.2323
luminosity
653.4314
mag
6.86
name
HD 18391
spect
G0Ia

About HD 18391

HD 18391 is an epic star. It lies about 2,104.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cas, shines at apparent magnitude 6.86 and has spectral type G0Ia.

Its spectrum reads G0Ia — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 18391 in the constellation Cas. At apparent magnitude 6.86, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 18391 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 18391 is an epic star

HD 18391 scores 57 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 21 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Never sets (northern circumpolar), Sun-like G-type star, Supergiant, Deep red star and Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) — 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.