← Back to dex
Common star 17 EP

HD 39184

RA 87.9611° · Dec 23.3828° · star

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

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 4 badges
17 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Deep red star +8
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 17

5 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K5 — 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 7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Taurus.
  • Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north you are.
  • 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. ≈ 17.5 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 1.6 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
-0.457
bv
1.584
constellation
Tau
dist ly
997.419
luminosity
132.6783
mag
6.97
name
HD 39184
spect
K5

About HD 39184

HD 39184 is a common star. It lies about 997.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Tau, shines at apparent magnitude 6.97 and has spectral type K5.

Its spectrum reads K5 — 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 39184 in the constellation Tau. At apparent magnitude 6.97, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 39184 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 39184 is a common star

HD 39184 scores 17 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, 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.