About HD 39949
HD 39949 is an uncommon star. It sits in the constellation Tau, shines at apparent magnitude 7.24 and has spectral type G2Ib.
Its spectrum reads G2Ib — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Uncommon star 32 EP
HD 39949
RA 89.2731° · Dec 27.3167° · star
Score breakdown
· 4 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Supergiant +18
- Sun-like G-type star +8
- Star +3
- On the zodiac +3
Total score 32
2 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Star · +3
- On the zodiac · +3
- Sun-like G-type star · +8
- Supergiant · +18
Trivia
What it actually is
- Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G2Ib — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
- Where it is in life. It is a supergiant, hundreds of times wider than the Sun.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 7.2 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.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out orange (B−V 1.1) — cooler than the Sun, and the kind of star that burns steadily for tens of billions of years.
By the numbers
- Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 4550 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.
What's in a name
- Its catalogue. The HD number is from the Henry Draper Catalogue, in which Annie Jump Cannon personally classified the spectra of nearly 400,000 stars — still the largest such feat by one person.
Properties
- absmag
- -12.76
- bv
- 1.086
- constellation
- Tau
- luminosity
- 11066237.8398
- mag
- 7.24
- name
- HD 39949
- spect
- G2Ib
How to see it
Look for HD 39949 in the constellation Tau. At apparent magnitude 7.24, it is an easy target for binoculars.
Like any astronomical target, HD 39949 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 39949 is an uncommon star
HD 39949 scores 32 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, Sun-like G-type star and Supergiant — 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.