← Back to dex
Uncommon star 22 EP

HD 293959

RA 79.8895° · Dec -2.3223° · star

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

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 5 badges
22 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • In Orion's hunting ground +6
  • White A-type star +5
  • Star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 22

12 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • In Orion's hunting ground · +6
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Main-sequence star · +2

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads A3V — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.

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 9.2 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 32.6 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.458
bv
0.216
constellation
Ori
dist ly
1853.159
luminosity
57.1216
mag
9.23
name
HD 293959
spect
A3V

About HD 293959

HD 293959 is an uncommon star. It lies about 1,853.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ori, shines at apparent magnitude 9.23 and has spectral type A3V.

Its spectrum reads A3V — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.

How to see it

Look for HD 293959 in the constellation Ori. At apparent magnitude 9.23, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 293959 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 293959 is an uncommon star

HD 293959 scores 22 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 12 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), In Orion's hunting ground, White A-type star and Main-sequence 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.