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Uncommon star 31 EP

Asellus Australis

RA 131.1712° · Dec 18.1543° · star

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
31 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Has a proper name +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 31

3 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • Has a proper name · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Giant star · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K0III — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.
  • Where it is in life. It is a giant. It has already exhausted its core hydrogen and swollen up enormously in response.

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 3.9 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, 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. ≈ 2.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.928
bv
1.083
constellation
Cnc
dist ly
130.5668
luminosity
37.051
mag
3.94
name
Asellus Australis
named
yes
spect
K0III

About Asellus Australis

Asellus Australis is an uncommon star. It lies about 130.6 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cnc, shines at apparent magnitude 3.94 and has spectral type K0III.

Its spectrum reads K0III — a K-type star. Orange K dwarfs are the marathon runners of the galaxy, burning steadily for tens of billions of years.

How to see it

Look for Asellus Australis in the constellation Cnc. At apparent magnitude 3.94, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, Asellus Australis 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 Asellus Australis is an uncommon star

Asellus Australis scores 31 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, Has a proper name, On the zodiac, Orange K-type star and Giant 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.