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Uncommon star 32 EP

HD 76860

RA 134.2439° · Dec -49.6810° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
32 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Supergiant +18
  • Deep red star +8
  • Star +3
  • Orange K-type star +3
Total score 32

2 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Orange K-type star · +3
  • Supergiant · +18
  • Deep red star · +8

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads K3Ib — 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 supergiant, hundreds of times wider than the Sun.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 7.2 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Vela.
  • 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 February — that's when to go looking.

Its true colour

  • Its true colour. Measured through blue and visual filters it comes out deep orange-red (B−V 1.7) — one of the coolest surfaces a star can have while still fusing.

By the numbers

  • Surface temperature. Its colour puts the surface at roughly 3500 K, against the Sun's 5778 K.

What's in a name

  • Its catalogue. The HD number is from the Henry Draper Catalogue, in which Annie Jump Cannon personally classified the spectra of nearly 400,000 stars — still the largest such feat by one person.

Properties

absmag
-12.84
bv
1.712
constellation
Vel
luminosity
11912420.0803
mag
7.16
name
HD 76860
spect
K3Ib

About HD 76860

HD 76860 is an uncommon star. It sits in the constellation Vel, shines at apparent magnitude 7.16 and has spectral type K3Ib.

Its spectrum reads K3Ib — 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 HD 76860 in the constellation Vel. At apparent magnitude 7.16, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 76860 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 76860 is an uncommon star

HD 76860 scores 32 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star, Orange K-type star, Supergiant and Deep red 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.