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Uncommon star 28 EP

99 Tau

RA 74.4527° · Dec 23.9486° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
28 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 28

6 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Giant star · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G8III: — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is a giant. It has already exhausted its core hydrogen and swollen up enormously in response.

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 5.8 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, 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 December — 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. ≈ 8 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.065
bv
1.109
constellation
Tau
dist ly
455.5251
luminosity
82.0352
mag
5.79
name
99 Tau
spect
G8III:

About 99 Tau

99 Tau is an uncommon star. It lies about 455.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Tau, shines at apparent magnitude 5.79 and has spectral type G8III:.

Its spectrum reads G8III: — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for 99 Tau in the constellation Tau. At apparent magnitude 5.79, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 99 Tau 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 99 Tau is an uncommon star

99 Tau scores 28 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, On the zodiac, Sun-like G-type star and Giant 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.