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Common star 16 EP

HD 40856

RA 88.8901° · Dec -69.4337° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
16 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • Star +3
Total score 16

6 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G1/G2IV/V — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

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 9.5 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Dorado.
  • Southern sky only. So far south it never rises for most of the northern hemisphere. To see it you'd have to travel to Chile, South Africa or Australia.
  • 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. ≈ 9 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 802 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
3.534
bv
0.663
constellation
Dor
dist ly
513.6314
luminosity
3.3605
mag
9.52
name
HD 40856
spect
G1/G2IV/V

About HD 40856

HD 40856 is a common star. It lies about 513.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Dor, shines at apparent magnitude 9.52 and has spectral type G1/G2IV/V.

Its spectrum reads G1/G2IV/V — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 40856 in the constellation Dor. At apparent magnitude 9.52, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 40856 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 40856 is a common star

HD 40856 scores 16 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, Sun-like G-type star and Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) — 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.