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Uncommon star 23 EP

HD 22271

RA 53.8049° · Dec 1.7795° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
23 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 23

11 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Red dwarf · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M... — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

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 8.8 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Taurus.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • 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. ≈ 18.9 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 1.7 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
1.157
bv
1.398
constellation
Tau
dist ly
1076.4224
luminosity
30.0054
mag
8.75
name
HD 22271
spect
M...

About HD 22271

HD 22271 is an uncommon star. It lies about 1,076.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Tau, shines at apparent magnitude 8.75 and has spectral type M....

Its spectrum reads M... — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

How to see it

Look for HD 22271 in the constellation Tau. At apparent magnitude 8.75, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 22271 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 22271 is an uncommon star

HD 22271 scores 23 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), On the zodiac, Cool red M-type star and Red dwarf — 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.