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Uncommon star 23 EP

HR 3166

RA 120.8734° · Dec -42.9483° · star

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges
23 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 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 — 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 6.3 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Puppis.
  • 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. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 14.2 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-0.693
bv
1.008
constellation
Pup
dist ly
809.3202
luminosity
164.8922
mag
6.28
name
HR 3166
spect
G8II

About HR 3166

HR 3166 is an uncommon star. It lies about 809.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Pup, shines at apparent magnitude 6.28 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 HR 3166 in the constellation Pup. At apparent magnitude 6.28, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HR 3166 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 HR 3166 is an uncommon star

HR 3166 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.