RA 86.8535° · Dec 29.6576° · star
9 more points to reach Common.
HD 38491 is a trash star. It lies about 259.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aur, shines at apparent magnitude 7.21 and has spectral type F8.
Its spectrum reads F8 — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
Look for HD 38491 in the constellation Aur. At apparent magnitude 7.21, it is an easy target for binoculars.
Like any astronomical target, HD 38491 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.
HD 38491 scores 6 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 2 science badges — Star and Yellow-white F-type 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.