About HD 55345
HD 55345 is an uncommon star. It sits in the constellation CMa, shines at apparent magnitude 7.21 and has spectral type G8II/III.
Its spectrum reads G8II/III — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Uncommon star 23 EP
HD 55345
RA 107.8619° · Dec -27.7318° · star
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Bright giant +12
- Sun-like G-type star +8
- Star +3
Total score 23
11 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Star · +3
- Sun-like G-type star · +8
- Bright giant · +12
Trivia
What it actually is
- Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G8II/III — 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.
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.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out orange (B−V 1.1) — cooler than the Sun, and the kind of star that burns steadily for tens of billions of years.
By the numbers
- Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 4430 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.
What's in a name
- Its catalogue. The HD number is from the Henry Draper Catalogue, in which Annie Jump Cannon personally classified the spectra of nearly 400,000 stars — still the largest such feat by one person.
Properties
- absmag
- -12.79
- bv
- 1.139
- constellation
- CMa
- luminosity
- 11376272.8582
- mag
- 7.21
- name
- HD 55345
- spect
- G8II/III
Nearby objects
How to see it
Look for HD 55345 in the constellation CMa. At apparent magnitude 7.21, it is an easy target for binoculars.
Like any astronomical target, HD 55345 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 55345 is an uncommon star
HD 55345 scores 23 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, Sun-like G-type star and Bright giant — 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.