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Uncommon star 28 EP

HD 244618

RA 82.9471° · Dec 5.0814° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
28 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • In Orion's hunting ground +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
Total score 28

6 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • In Orion's hunting ground · +6
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Deep red star · +8
  • 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 8.5 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, 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. ≈ 11.5 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 1 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
1.982
bv
1.792
constellation
Ori
dist ly
656.2494
luminosity
14.0346
mag
8.5
name
HD 244618
spect
M0

About HD 244618

HD 244618 is an uncommon star. It lies about 656.2 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ori, shines at apparent magnitude 8.5 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 244618 in the constellation Ori. At apparent magnitude 8.5, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 244618 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 244618 is an uncommon star

HD 244618 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, In Orion's hunting ground, Cool red M-type star, Deep red 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.