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Common star 20 EP

HD 47268

RA 98.8098° · Dec -48.1350° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
20 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 20

2 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K5/M0 — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

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 9.1 you'll want a small backyard telescope, over in Puppis.
  • 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.

Could we get there?

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

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 46.6 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 4.1 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
-0.41
bv
1.476
constellation
Pup
dist ly
2651.6747
luminosity
127.0574
mag
9.14
name
HD 47268
spect
K5/M0

About HD 47268

HD 47268 is a common star. It lies about 2,651.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Pup, shines at apparent magnitude 9.14 and has spectral type K5/M0.

Its spectrum reads K5/M0 — 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 47268 in the constellation Pup. At apparent magnitude 9.14, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.

Like any astronomical target, HD 47268 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 47268 is a common star

HD 47268 scores 20 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Orange K-type 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.