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Uncommon star 23 EP

HD 39954

RA 88.9600° · Dec -0.8865° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
23 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • In Orion's hunting ground +6
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
Total score 23

11 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • In Orion's hunting ground · +6
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Giant star · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G5III — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is a giant. It has already exhausted its core hydrogen and swollen up enormously in response.

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 8.3 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. ≈ 5.8 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
3.216
bv
0.767
constellation
Ori
dist ly
332.8122
luminosity
4.504
mag
8.26
name
HD 39954
spect
G5III

About HD 39954

HD 39954 is an uncommon star. It lies about 332.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Ori, shines at apparent magnitude 8.26 and has spectral type G5III.

Its spectrum reads G5III — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 39954 in the constellation Ori. At apparent magnitude 8.26, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 39954 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 39954 is an uncommon star

HD 39954 scores 23 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, In Orion's hunting ground, Sun-like G-type star and Giant 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.