About HD 45406
HD 45406 is a common star. It sits in the constellation Col, shines at apparent magnitude 10.03 and has spectral type F5V.
Its spectrum reads F5V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
Common star 16 EP
HD 45406
RA 96.3588° · Dec -36.2989° · star
Score breakdown
· 4 badgesCommon 22 pts → Uncommon
- Deep red star +8
- Star +3
- Yellow-white F-type star +3
- Main-sequence star +2
Total score 16
6 more points to reach Uncommon.
Badges
- Star · +3
- Yellow-white F-type star · +3
- Main-sequence star · +2
- Deep red star · +8
Trivia
Hard to believe
- True brightness. It pours out about 831.8 thousand 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 F5V — an F-type star — a little hotter, whiter and shorter-lived than the Sun.
- Where it is in life. It is on the main sequence, quietly fusing hydrogen in its core exactly as the Sun does.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 10 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Columba.
- Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south 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 deep orange-red (B−V 1.6) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.
By the numbers
- Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 3640 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.
Properties
- absmag
- -9.97
- bv
- 1.61
- constellation
- Col
- luminosity
- 847227.4141
- mag
- 10.03
- name
- HD 45406
- spect
- F5V
How to see it
Look for HD 45406 in the constellation Col. At apparent magnitude 10.03, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.
Like any astronomical target, HD 45406 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 45406 is a common star
HD 45406 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 4 science badges — Star, Yellow-white F-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.