Trash star 11 EP

HD 51494

RA 102.4191° · Dec -74.5573° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges

11 pts · Trash

Trash 15 pts → Common

Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
Star +3
Orange K-type star +3

Total score 11

4 more points to reach Common.

Badges

Star · +3
Orange K-type star · +3
Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5

Trivia

What it actually is

Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K0IV+... — 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 a subgiant, caught in the act of leaving the main sequence as the hydrogen in its core runs out.

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 8.9 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Volans.
Southern sky only. So far south it never rises for most of the northern hemisphere. To see it you'd have to travel to Chile, South Africa or Australia.
Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around January — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 3.7 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag: 4.905
bv: 0.737
constellation: Vol
dist ly: 208.1404
luminosity: 0.9506
mag: 8.93
name: HD 51494
spect: K0IV+...

Nearby objects

About HD 51494

HD 51494 is a trash star. It lies about 208.1 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Vol, shines at apparent magnitude 8.93 and has spectral type K0IV+....

Its spectrum reads K0IV+... — 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 51494 in the constellation Vol. At apparent magnitude 8.93, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 51494 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 51494 is a trash star

HD 51494 scores 11 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, Orange K-type star and Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) — 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.