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Common star 16 EP

HR 3224

RA 123.4237° · Dec 23.1377° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
16 pts · Common
Common 22 pts → Uncommon
  • White A-type star +5
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) +5
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 16

6 more points to reach Uncommon.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • White A-type star · +5
  • Subgiant (leaving the main sequence) · +5

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads A4IVn — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.
  • 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.

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 6.6 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Cancer.
  • 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.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 5.4 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
1.703
bv
0.116
constellation
Cnc
dist ly
305.3896
luminosity
18.1468
mag
6.56
name
HR 3224
spect
A4IVn

About HR 3224

HR 3224 is a common star. It lies about 305.4 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cnc, shines at apparent magnitude 6.56 and has spectral type A4IVn.

Its spectrum reads A4IVn — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.

How to see it

Look for HR 3224 in the constellation Cnc. At apparent magnitude 6.56, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HR 3224 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 3224 is a common star

HR 3224 scores 16 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, On the zodiac, White A-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.