← Back to dex
Common star 20 EP

HD 240984

RA 77.2540° · Dec 6.9046° · star

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

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
20 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • In Orion's hunting ground +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
Total score 20

2 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • In Orion's hunting ground · +6
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Red dwarf · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M0 — 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 10.8 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Orion.
  • 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 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. ≈ 5.4 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 478.6 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
5.885
bv
1.1
constellation
Ori
dist ly
306.5377
luminosity
0.3855
mag
10.75
name
HD 240984
spect
M0

About HD 240984

HD 240984 is a common star. It lies about 306.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ori, shines at apparent magnitude 10.75 and has spectral type M0.

Its spectrum reads M0 — 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 240984 in the constellation Ori. At apparent magnitude 10.75, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 240984 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 240984 is a common star

HD 240984 scores 20 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, In Orion's hunting ground, 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.