RA 122.5857° · Dec -49.2373° · star
15 more points to reach Epic.
HD 68478 is a rare star. It lies about 1,753.5 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Vel, shines at apparent magnitude 6.46 and has spectral type B3IV.
Its spectrum reads B3IV — a blue-white B-type star, with a surface tens of thousands of degrees hot and a life measured in tens of millions of years.
Look for HD 68478 in the constellation Vel. At apparent magnitude 6.46, it is an easy target for binoculars.
Like any astronomical target, HD 68478 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.
HD 68478 scores 35 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 15 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 6 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Hot blue B-type star, Subgiant (leaving the main sequence), Blue-white star 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.