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Rare star 38 EP

HD 51021

RA 104.3271° · Dec 37.3947° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
38 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) +10
  • Deep red star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Red dwarf +6
  • Cool red M-type star +5
  • Star +3
Total score 38

12 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Cool red M-type star · +5
  • Deep red star · +8
  • Red dwarf · +6
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) · +10

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads M3 — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

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 6.5 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Auriga.
  • 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 January — 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. ≈ 30.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 2.7 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
-2.126
bv
1.673
constellation
Aur
dist ly
1716.6106
luminosity
617.1632
mag
6.48
name
HD 51021
spect
M3

About HD 51021

HD 51021 is a rare star. It lies about 1,716.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Aur, shines at apparent magnitude 6.48 and has spectral type M3.

Its spectrum reads M3 — an M-type red star — and M stars are the silent majority: roughly three of every four stars in the galaxy are one.

How to see it

Look for HD 51021 in the constellation Aur. At apparent magnitude 6.48, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 51021 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 51021 is a rare star

HD 51021 scores 38 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 12 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Cool red M-type star, Deep red star, Red dwarf and Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) — 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.