About HD 61787
HD 61787 is a common star. It sits in the constellation Gem, shines at apparent magnitude 8.21 and has spectral type G4IV.
Its spectrum reads G4IV — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
Common star 19 EP
HD 61787
RA 115.4277° · Dec 18.0532° · star
Score breakdown
· 4 badgesCommon 22 pts → Uncommon
- Sun-like G-type star +8
- Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
- Star +3
- On the zodiac +3
Total score 19
3 more points to reach Uncommon.
Badges
- Star · +3
- On the zodiac · +3
- Sun-like G-type star · +8
- Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5
Trivia
Hard to believe
- True brightness. It pours out about 4.4 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 G4IV — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
- 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.
Find it in the sky
- How to spot it. At magnitude 8.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, 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 yellow (B−V 0.7) — almost exactly the Sun's own shade — a stellar twin in colour, if not in size.
- Why no green stars. No star ever looks green: a surface hot enough to peak in green also floods out plenty of red and blue, and your eye blends the mixture back to white.
Properties
- absmag
- -11.79
- bv
- 0.66
- constellation
- Gem
- luminosity
- 4528975.799
- mag
- 8.21
- name
- HD 61787
- spect
- G4IV
How to see it
Look for HD 61787 in the constellation Gem. At apparent magnitude 8.21, it is an easy target for binoculars.
Like any astronomical target, HD 61787 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 61787 is a common star
HD 61787 scores 19 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, Sun-like G-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.