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Rare star 41 EP

HD 48640

RA 101.3479° · Dec 24.6725° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
41 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Supergiant +18
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 41

9 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Supergiant · +18
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K2:Ib — 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 7 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Gemini.
  • 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. ≈ 28.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 2.5 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
-1.513
bv
1.65
constellation
Gem
dist ly
1606.6797
luminosity
350.9134
mag
6.95
name
HD 48640
spect
K2:Ib

About HD 48640

HD 48640 is a rare star. It lies about 1,606.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Gem, shines at apparent magnitude 6.95 and has spectral type K2:Ib.

Its spectrum reads K2:Ib — 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 48640 in the constellation Gem. At apparent magnitude 6.95, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 48640 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 48640 is a rare star

HD 48640 scores 41 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare 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, Supergiant 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.