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Uncommon star 32 EP

HD 26081

RA 62.1626° · Dec 25.8778° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
32 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Bright giant +12
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 32

2 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Bright giant · +12

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G8II — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is a bright giant, well on its way to the largest stars there are.

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 7.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Taurus.
  • 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. ≈ 20.7 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-0.588
bv
1.393
constellation
Tau
dist ly
1177.4584
luminosity
149.6925
mag
7.2
name
HD 26081
spect
G8II

About HD 26081

HD 26081 is an uncommon star. It lies about 1,177.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Tau, shines at apparent magnitude 7.2 and has spectral type G8II.

Its spectrum reads G8II — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 26081 in the constellation Tau. At apparent magnitude 7.2, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 26081 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 26081 is an uncommon star

HD 26081 scores 32 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 2 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, Sun-like G-type star and Bright giant — 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.