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Uncommon star 31 EP

20 Hya

RA 137.3982° · Dec -8.7876° · star

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges
31 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Bright giant +12
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Star +3
Total score 31

3 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • 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 5.5 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Hydra.
  • Seen from everywhere. It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from essentially anywhere on Earth.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around February — 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. ≈ 8.5 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
-0.377
bv
1.002
constellation
Hya
dist ly
481.7667
luminosity
123.2537
mag
5.47
name
20 Hya
spect
G8II

About 20 Hya

20 Hya is an uncommon star. It lies about 481.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Hya, shines at apparent magnitude 5.47 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 20 Hya in the constellation Hya. At apparent magnitude 5.47, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 20 Hya 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 20 Hya is an uncommon star

20 Hya 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 4 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, 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.