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Uncommon star 25 EP

HD 40002

RA 89.3304° · Dec 26.8535° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
25 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
  • Main-sequence star +2
Total score 25

9 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Main-sequence star · +2
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K3V — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.
  • Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.

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 7.7 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. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 32.4 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-1.03
bv
1.456
constellation
Tau
dist ly
1842.6894
luminosity
224.9055
mag
7.73
name
HD 40002
spect
K3V

About HD 40002

HD 40002 is an uncommon star. It lies about 1,842.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Tau, shines at apparent magnitude 7.73 and has spectral type K3V.

Its spectrum reads K3V — 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 40002 in the constellation Tau. At apparent magnitude 7.73, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 40002 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 40002 is an uncommon star

HD 40002 scores 25 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), On the zodiac, Orange K-type star, Main-sequence 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.