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Common star 16 EP

HD 20474

RA 45.9995° · Dec -83.0690° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
16 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • Star +3
Total score 16

6 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G6IV — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is a subgiant, caught in the act of leaving the main sequence as the hydrogen in its core runs out.

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 9.1 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Octans.
  • Southern sky only. So far south it never rises for most of the northern hemisphere. To see it you'd have to travel to Chile, South Africa or Australia.
  • 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 10 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
2.851
bv
0.833
constellation
Oct
dist ly
569.2078
luminosity
6.3038
mag
9.06
name
HD 20474
spect
G6IV

About HD 20474

HD 20474 is a common star. It lies about 569.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Oct, shines at apparent magnitude 9.06 and has spectral type G6IV.

Its spectrum reads G6IV — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 20474 in the constellation Oct. At apparent magnitude 9.06, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 20474 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 20474 is a common star

HD 20474 scores 16 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, Sun-like G-type star and Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) — 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.