About HIP 29961
HIP 29961 is a common star. It sits in the constellation Ori, shines at apparent magnitude 9.75 and has spectral type N0.
Its spectrum reads N0 — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.
Common star 17 EP
HIP 29961
RA 94.6077° · Dec -1.1296° · star
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesCommon 22 pts → Uncommon
- Deep red star +8
- In Orion's hunting ground +6
- Star +3
Total score 17
5 more points to reach Uncommon.
Badges
- Star · +3
- In Orion's hunting ground · +6
- Deep red star · +8
Trivia
Hard to believe
- True brightness. It pours out about 1.1 million times as much light as the Sun. It only looks ordinary because it is so far away.
What it actually is
- Spectral class. Its spectrum reads N0 — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 9.8 you'll want a small backyard telescope, 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.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out deep orange-red (B−V 2.8) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.
By the numbers
- Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 2510 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.
What's in a name
- Its catalogue. The HIP number comes from Hipparcos, the ESA satellite that between 1989 and 1993 pinned down 118,000 stars precisely enough to triangulate their distances.
Properties
- absmag
- -10.25
- bv
- 2.814
- constellation
- Ori
- luminosity
- 1096478.1961
- mag
- 9.75
- name
- HIP 29961
- spect
- N0
How to see it
Look for HIP 29961 in the constellation Ori. At apparent magnitude 9.75, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.
Like any astronomical target, HIP 29961 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 HIP 29961 is a common star
HIP 29961 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 3 science badges — Star, In Orion's hunting ground 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.