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Uncommon star 26 EP

HD 246001

RA 84.7491° · Dec 4.1387° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
26 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • In Orion's hunting ground +6
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 26

8 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • In Orion's hunting ground · +6
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K7 — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

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

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 25.9 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 2.3 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
-0.118
bv
1.66
constellation
Ori
dist ly
1475.819
luminosity
97.0957
mag
8.16
name
HD 246001
spect
K7

About HD 246001

HD 246001 is an uncommon star. It lies about 1,475.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ori, shines at apparent magnitude 8.16 and has spectral type K7.

Its spectrum reads K7 — 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 246001 in the constellation Ori. At apparent magnitude 8.16, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 246001 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 246001 is an uncommon star

HD 246001 scores 26 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 8 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, Orange K-type star 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.