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Rare star 39 EP

HD 54859

RA 107.4875° · Dec -13.6161° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
39 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Bright giant +12
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) +10
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Star +3
Total score 39

11 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Bright giant · +12
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) · +10

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G8II — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is a bright giant, well on its way to the largest stars there are.

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 7.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Canis Major.
  • 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 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. ≈ 56.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-2.787
bv
1.028
constellation
CMa
dist ly
3197.608
luminosity
1134.4882
mag
7.17
name
HD 54859
spect
G8II

About HD 54859

HD 54859 is a rare star. It lies about 3,197.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation CMa, shines at apparent magnitude 7.17 and has spectral type G8II.

Its spectrum reads G8II — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 54859 in the constellation CMa. At apparent magnitude 7.17, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 54859 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 54859 is a rare star

HD 54859 scores 39 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Sun-like G-type star, Bright giant 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.