← Back to dex
Common star 19 EP

HD 30502

RA 71.3683° · Dec -51.9796° · star

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
19 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Deep red star +8
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 19

3 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

Hard to believe

  • True brightness. It pours out about 2.2 million times as much light as the Sun. It only looks ordinary because it is so far away.

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K2IV — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.
  • 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.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 8.9 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Pictor.
  • 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 December — 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 1.5) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

By the numbers

  • Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 3760 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.

Properties

absmag
-11.05
bv
1.522
constellation
Pic
luminosity
2290867.6528
mag
8.95
name
HD 30502
spect
K2IV

Nearby objects

About HD 30502

HD 30502 is a common star. It sits in the constellation Pic, shines at apparent magnitude 8.95 and has spectral type K2IV.

Its spectrum reads K2IV — 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 30502 in the constellation Pic. At apparent magnitude 8.95, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 30502 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 30502 is a common star

HD 30502 scores 19 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Orange K-type star, Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) 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.