About HD 58364
HD 58364 is a trash star. It sits in the constellation Gem, shines at apparent magnitude 9.22 and has spectral type R4.
Its spectrum reads R4 — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.
Trash star 14 EP
HD 58364
RA 111.5271° · Dec 21.8912° · star
Score breakdown
· 3 badgesTrash 15 pts → Common
- Deep red star +8
- Star +3
- On the zodiac +3
Total score 14
1 more point to reach Common.
Badges
- Star · +3
- On the zodiac · +3
- Deep red star · +8
Trivia
Hard to believe
- True brightness. It pours out about 1.8 million times as much light as the Sun. It only looks ordinary because it is so far away.
What it actually is
- Spectral class. Its spectrum reads R4 — a carbon star, wrapped in so much soot that its light is filtered to a deep ruby red.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 9.2 you'll want a small backyard telescope, 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 January — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out deep orange-red (B−V 1.5) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.
By the numbers
- Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 3760 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
- -10.78
- bv
- 1.52
- constellation
- Gem
- luminosity
- 1786487.5749
- mag
- 9.22
- name
- HD 58364
- spect
- R4
How to see it
Look for HD 58364 in the constellation Gem. At apparent magnitude 9.22, a small backyard telescope will bring it into view.
Like any astronomical target, HD 58364 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 58364 is a trash star
HD 58364 scores 14 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Star, On the zodiac 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.